Price 50 Cents 




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PRATTS 

poultry pqinI-Srs 




PPatts Poultry Pood 
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Best Food Pop Pttle Chicks. 



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Poultry Pointers 



PUBLISHED BY 



Pratt Food Company 

MANUFACTURERS OP THE 

Famous Pratts Foods 

and Veterinary Remedies 



MAIN OFFICES 

PHILADELPHIA, PA., U. S. A. 

AGENCIES 

CHICAGO, ILL. LONDON, ENGLAND 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. LAGOS, WEST AFRICA 

TORONTO, CANADA DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND 



LiERARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Receiveu 

Aptf 22 1905 

Jouyngm tairy 

Cl&S»s <^ XXc. WOi 
/ /S63J 



Copyright 1895 
Copyright 1901 
Copyright 1904 
Copyright 1905 

BY 

Pratt Food Company 



fA^ 




Join 

Pratts Correspondence School of 
JPoultry=Keeping 



ONLY $2.00 FOR A COURSE WORTH $35.00 



•The best organized School of its kind in the world. Our lectures 
are complete, concise and easily understood. No dry, uninteresting 
information, but thorough, practical and snappy instruction, which 
goes right to the point in a few words. 

Just Think of this Offer ! 

We mail a full, complete lecture every week for three months 
prepared by the highest and most learned authorities on poultry, and 
written in an interesting way. No college education is necessary to 
grasp the meaning, which is the case in so many schools of this kind. 
We offer this Correspondence Course to the users of Pratts Food and 
Veterinary Remedies for the nominal charge of 

$2.00 for Full Course 

and a coupon, which we place in every package of our goods. 

Our course of lectures is better and more complete than the regu- 
lar $25.00 and $35.00 courses. 

This unusually low price does not pay us for preparing the lec- 
tures, let alone the other expenses necessary in conducting a Cor- 



respondence School of the highest standard. However, we are willing 
to bear this expense in order to give to the hundreds of thousands 
of consumers of our products throughout the United States and 
Europe a practical Correspondence Course. 

This Correspondence Course in Poultry-Keeping is offered by 
the Pratt Food Co. , of Philadelphia, who for more than thirty years have 
been making and selling Pratts Poultry Food and Pratts Food for 
Horses and Cattle. You can rely on the information given in these 
Instructions as being absolutely accurate in every detail, and full of 
just the exact information necessary for profitable poultry-raising. 

It is the usual custom to charge anywhere from #25.00 to #35.00 
for a correspondence course of this kind, but we give this instruction 
almost absolutely free to the users of Pratt Food Company's products, 
and feel sure that not a single owner of poultry in the United States 
will let this opportunity pass to gain a complete knowledge of this 
highly-interesting and profitable business for the moderate tuition fee 
of $2.00. 

Remember 

Pratts Correspondence School of Poultry-Keeping instructs you 
thoroughly in every detail how to handle poultry from the egg to' the 
table. It shows complete working plans for poultry houses, runs and 
yards ; how to keep poultry healthy ; descriptions of all recognized 
breeds ; how to run an incubator, and in fact every subject which is 
of interest and profit to the poultry-owner. 

This is one of the rarest opportunities ever offered to poultry 
people, and we know that every user of Pratt Food Company's prod- 
ucts will be quick to take advantage of this unusual offer at this 
unusual price. 

PRATT FOOD COMPANY, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



PART I. 



POULTRY KEEPING. 




CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL HINTS. 



OUR OBJECT. 



Having had years of experience with poultry, we 
find that we can help poultry people to profit and save 
many of the cares due to either inattention or lack of 
knowledge on the subject, and while yielding due praise 
to the authors of poultry books generally, and not desir- 
ing to criticise their excellent work, we hope to be par- 
doned one remark : We find by experience that what is 
greatly needed among those who keep or intend to keep 
poultry is a plain, practical book of ready reference, where 
the information wanted can be found at once, without 
wading through page after page of unnecessary matter. 
Pratts Poultry Food is now marketed in over fifty thousand 
towns, and while we recognize the value of such a book 



6 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

to our friends and patrons, who are numbered by hun- 
dreds of thousands, we are also deeply interested in the 
encouragement of poultry keeping, quite aside from 
enlarging the sale of our products. It is our purpose, 
therefore, to do our part in ministering to the wants of 
poultry keepers by placing in their hands a working 
manual of practical information, the use of which will 
add to the ease and profit of their occupation. 



WHY KEEP POULTRY. 

It is not so very long since the China Cochin was 
about the only fancy breed fowl generally recognized. 
Nowadays we have all breeds and all characters. We 
have heard of prices that seem out of all reason. Birds 
would frequently bring $200 and settings $25 ; indeed, 
$500 has been paid for a game cock in England without 
exciting much remark. Such values, however, were 
spasmodic and fictitious, and the practical poultry 
keeper must shut his eyes to them. Poultry breeding 
has now settled upon a sound basis, and is becoming 
more popular every year. Why Americans should raise 
poultry is shown by the millions of dozens of eggs that 
are imported yearly. There is no reason why we should 
not produce eggs sufficient for our own use, and thus 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 7 

save the immense sums we send away to other countries. 
Hundreds of farmers, who have ample means to provide 
for a large flock of poultry, would be surprised to find 
how large a profit could, with a little care, be realized 
from keeping them. Of course the farmer will under- 
stand that it will cost him some time and trouble as 
well, for he must study the laws of nature with refer- 
ence to fowls and their wants ; but we say confidently 
that with the same amount of attention, poultry will 
actually pay him a larger profit than any other feature 
on his farm. But it is not the farmer only : there are 
thousands of others, living in locations where they have 
a little extra space, who could start with a dozen, or 
even half a dozen fowls, and would soon find the 
diversion not only interesting but profitable. Every 
housekeeper knows the difference between fresh eggs 
and stale ones, so far as the pleasure of eating them 
goes ; but perhaps she does not know that fresh eggs 
are far more nutritious than stale ones. This appears 
in hatching, as chicks from fresh eggs are much stronger 
and hardier than those from stale ones. Who ever 
heard a physician recommend a stale egg? Sick folks 
must have fresh eggs or none. How important then 
becomes the keeping of poultry, which requires only 
common sense and good care to be made a perfect sue- 



8 PRATTS POUI/TRY POINTERS. 

cess. Location of houses, choice of ground, condition 
of food and drinking water, are of course all important, 
and will be referred to in due course. 




SPACE AND OUTLAY. 

A small but complete poultry house can be built 
in a space eight feet by twelve, and will allow ample 
room for run of half a dozen fowls. We mention this 
merely to show that a little family of fowls could 
be easily and conveniently accommodated by many who 
now allow the necessary space to go to waste, and who 
buy eggs of uncertain condition and chickens of doubt- 
ful age, instead of supplying their tables with fresh eggs 
and tender poultry from their own yards. The outlay 
for the housing of a few fowls is almost nothing — merely 
a small amount of timber, and time enough to put it 
together. We need not dwell on the advantages pos- 
sessed by a farmer in regard to the keeping of poultry — 
for no one knows better than the fanner himself what 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 9 

an opportunity it gives hirn to utilize material and space 
that would otherwise be actually thrown away. It 
requires little thought, and less calculation, for him to 
realize that at a trifling expense he can start a safe 
venture, which will bring him in many a welcome 
dollar, and pay for itself many times over. We should 
advise a beginner to start with a few fowls, and add 
to them as he becomes more experienced. The expen- 
diture of time and the exercise of patience demanded 
by any new enterprise will, of course, be required. 



LOCATION. 

The first consideration should be location. Select 
or prepare a dry surface, not clay, and build the house 
with its floor a foot or more from the ground, to allow 
plenty of free air space underneath. The situation 
should be light, airy and cheerful, avoiding doors, win- 
dows or openings of any sort to the north, northeast or 
northwest. This is a most important feature. Winds 
from the directions named chill the fowls, and their 
nourishment is used up in keeping them warm, espe- 
cially in the time of cold storms. A southern exposure 
is, of course, the best one. If practicable, let the north- 
erly walls be of brick ; but in any case, let them be wind- 



10 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

proof. If openings are made in the back or side walls, 
for ventilation during hot weather, they should be so 
constructed as to close tightly, to keep out drafts when 
shut. On the farm, a location near the cowhouse or 
stable, or against the fireplace of the dwelling, is the 
best, other things being equal, on account of the warmth 
thus gained. In building the house there is much to be 
considered in the way of practical common sense. 
Nothing complicated or scientific is required ; simply 
a healthy location, that should be dry and well protected 
from drafts in cold weather. Proper ventilation and 
cleanliness are also essential to the welfare of the fowls. 
Therefore the most elaborate houses are not always the 
most successful. Improper housing is the most frequent 
cause of disease and of unprofitable poultry keeping. 
In a cold, damp atmosphere the fowls will neither thrive 
nor lay. The results of care in constructing the house 
are seen in fall and winter. If the house is drafty, the 
fowls will use up the food they have eaten to keep them- 
selves warm through the cold nights — a thing which a 
well-built house will prevent. 

We have found that from fifteen to twenty-five birds 
are all that will thrive in one house ; so that where more 
are kept, they should have separate houses and runs. 
Thick roosts, low down, should always be adopted, as 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 11 

the thin roost, high up, wears out the strength of the 
fowl before morning in endeavoring to keep its balance. 
This too, uses up the food supply, which is exhausted 
in the effort of the bird to make itself comfortable, 
instead of acting as an egg-producer. 

If the house is built double (see cut, page 22), 
this will allow of two runs, so that the fowls can be 
penned in one run at a time, and then reversed to the 
other, thus allowing one side at a time to be purified. 
While one side is in use, the other can be sown with 
oats, and the change made when the oats are four or 
five inches high, making a fine scratching-ground for 
the birds. A frequent stirring up of the soil, so as to 
let the sun penetrate it thoroughly, will have more 
influence on the health of the fowls than might be 
supposed. The fouling of the run is one of the most 
frequently neglected features of the poultry yard. When 
the house cannot be conveniently built in the manner 
suggested, the yard should be often and generously 
strewn with gravel. This will make it easy to clear off 
and cart away the top soil, and again spread with gravel ; 
whereas, if the birds are simply allowed to run on the 
hard earth,, it soon becomes foul and unwholesome. 
Sheds for dust baths, and for protection from the direct 
rays of the sun, as well as from rain and cold winds, 



12 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

should be so constructed in convenient places, and the 
fowls should, during the day, if space allows, be entirely 
shut out from the house in which they roost at night. 
In the construction of the sheds, all sides but the south- 
erly should be enclosed, for reasons which are plain to 
every one. 



"'''I' 11 " ^ 









CHAPTER II. 

THE HOUSE. » 

HOW TO BUILD. 

In selecting material for the house, brick is best, 
because it makes a tighter, warmer house, and lasts 
longer ; but wood has its advantages, in cheapness and 
ease of removal. The latter is an item, if you are living 
on rented property. The size must depend on the 
number of fowls intended to be kept. Too large a house, 
in proportion to the number of fowls, is as bad as one 
too small — for the one will be chilly and full of drafts, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 13 

while the other will be close and unhealthy. A house 
twelve feet by six on the floor, with a height of say 
seven or eight feet to the eaves, is the right size for 
fifteen to twenty-five fowls ; for a less number, reduce in 
proportion. For such a house, the foundation at least 
should be of brick, well covered with tar, and wherever 
the wood touches the ground a liberal application of tar 
will be found a great protection as well as a preventive 
of dampness. The wall timber should be tongued and 
grooved, or, if not, the cracks should be well plugged, 
and the boards should be an inch thick. In case the 
house is likely to be removed and set up again, French 
or wire nails are recommended. The door should be 
not less than two feet six inches wide, with one or more 
windows made to face south or east on the yard side. 
For the fowls a trap, one foot wide and fifteen to eighteen 
inches high, will be wanted, with a sliding door. Shin- 
gles or slate make the best permanent roof. Corrugated 
iron, tin or wood will do for more temporary structures, 
but the first two are apt to make a cold house in winter 
and a hot one in summer. If wood is used, it should be 
carefully joined, and covered with felting, which ought 
to be treated with tar and sand once a year at least. 
Such a roof, if it has plenty of slope, will keep the 
house dry and warm in all weathers. Carrying the roof 



14 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



down to the ground, as shown in the illustration, gives 
greater floor space, without additional expense for lum- 
ber, an important consideration. The entire house 
should be lined with a good felt paper, then white- 
washed. 




SINGLE SECTION BROODER HOUSE WITH SCRATCHING 
SHED AND YARD. 



THE FLOOR. 



You will never succeed with fowls if your floor is 
damp and cold ; for if that is so, it will affect the atmos- 
phere of the whole house, and with it the comfort and 
health of the fowls themselves. For this reason we 
have already said that the floor ought to be at least a 
foot off the ground, so as to allow for ventilation be- 
neath. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 15 

For floors we advise baru boards, tongued and 
grooved. Always have plenty of good litter, made of 
hay, straw or grass, over the entire surface. This, of 
course, should be renewed frequently. 

Cement is sometimes used, and although it makes a 
floor easily cleaned, it is too cold unless it is thoroughly 
covered with sand and other litter. Bricks absorb am- 
monia and should not be used. But whatever material 
is used, it must always be kept clean and dry. 

Where the ground is dry and the soil light, some 
have successfully used a floor made merely of dry earth ; 
but it goes without saying that this needs daily raking, 
and must be cleared out and renewed at the first sign of 
foulness, which can easily be detected by the sense of 
smell. 



KEEPING OUT RATS. 



A thick layer of rough stones, covered with broken 
glass under the foundation and floor, is the best defence 
against rats, which must be kept out, or they will de- 
stroy chickens by wholesale. Some add a wire netting 
outside the house, but this will rust and must be re- 
newed at intervals. It will pay also to keep rat traps 



16 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

about, which should be kept clean by frequent scalding. 
It is a good plan to have a number of traps of different 
forms, and use them in rotation, as these pests are very 
sly and soon learn to keep away from a trap after they 
find out how it works. If the floor is raised above the 
ground, as noticed before, you will have little trouble 
with rats. 



HEATING AND VENTILATION. 

While a warm house is essential to good results, 
it must at the same time be well ventilated. How to 
accomplish both is an important consideration. Every 
one knows that hens lay less in winter than in summer, 
for the reason that their natural heat is consumed 
rapidly in cold weather, and there is little left to go into 
eggs or flesh. Some think to counteract this by arti- 
ficial means ; but the fowls must be let out in order to 
keep them in good health, and the change from an 
overheated house to the outdoor cold is apt to cause dis- 
ease. Again, the burning of oil or gas cannot fail to 
vitiate the air, and while steam or hot-water pipes avoid 
this to some extent, it is difficult to keep an even tem- 
perature. The best plan is the one already suggested ; 
of having the house derive its heat from an adjoin- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



17 



ing building, such as a cow-house, stable or dwelling. If 
a stove is used at all, it should be where a large number 
of fowls are kept, and would then be best placed in a 
middle room, with which the other compartments com- 
municate. If the location and exposure are well chosen, 
as above suggested, the sun will in most cases give all 
the additional heat necessary. Good ventilation can be 
secured by making a roof chamber in the peak, loosely 
floored, and with traps or slats, or simply bored holes, at 
the sides. 




PI^AN FOR VENTILATING. 



This will give sufficient draft to carry off the bad 
air, and in extremely cold weather the outlets can be 
stopped to any extent desired. There should be no 
attempt to ventilate from the floor of the house itself, 
except through the cracks under the door and around 
the entrance trap ; otherwise the house will be robbed 
of its heat, and the fowls will be inevitably chilled. 



18 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 




CHAPTER III: 
FITTINGS, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE. 
ROOSTS. 

Remember what has been said about having the 
roosts thick and not too far from the ground. They 
should also be readily removable, so that they can be 
frequently taken outside and cleaned and sprayed with 
Pratts Liquid Lice Killer every two weeks. Round or 
oval-shaped bars, say three inches through, sawn length- 
wise, make the best perches. If made flat, the edges 
must be rounded. Bent iron or wooden U-shaped sockets 
should be fastened to the sides of the house to rest the 
perches on. Beneath the roosts it is well to have a plat- 
form, which will catch the droppings, and prevent the 
floor from becoming filthy. This should be removed and 
cleaned dailv. 



NESTS. 
Three important points are to be kept in mind in 
providing nests. They must be sufficient in number, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



19 



roomy, and readily cleaned. Have not less than four 
nests for every dozen hens, at least a foot square, and up 
to sixteen inches for large breeds. L,et them be strong, 
but as simple in construction as possible, without per- 
manent floors or corners for the dirt or vermin to collect. 
Handy nests can be made by building a low rack, and 
laying on it a row of nail kegs, facing the open ends to the 
wall. In the bottom cut a small hole for the purpose of 
gathering the eggs. To prevent egg eating, nests should 
not be low enough for fowls to reach them from floor; nor 
should they be so high as to make them hard to get into. 
Many poultry men now use trap nests, to tell which hens 
are laying ; the non-paying hens can then be separated, 
and killed for market. In most poultry houses nests are 
placed under roosting platform. 



p 






IJafiJOKHJ 



BOX NESTS. 



KEG NESTS. 



THE SCRATCHING SHED. 

All modern poultry houses have a scratching shed 
attached to them. This shed is usually about one-half 



20 



PRATTS POUI/TRY POINTERS. 



the length of the house proper, but having the same 
width and height as the main house. The front is 
covered with a good quality of wire netting, with a drop 
curtain of muslin that can be left down in stormy 
weather. The floor is usually of earth, well covered 
with hay, straw or leaves. In this shed should be placed 
the dust bath and a box with good sharp grit and lime. 
An entrance should be in front and also an opening 
into the house. The house opening should be left open 
at night, unless the weather is very cold, so that the 
fowls can go in there and scratch as soon as they leave 
their roosts. 

The best way is to build two houses with the scratch- 
ing sheds between them ; this saves lumber and the shed 
is better protected. The partition between the two 
sheds can be of wire. Care should be taken that the 
ground in the shed does not become fouled, and that the 
scratching material is frequently changed. Nothing is 
better for the dust bath than fine dry soil or ashes. 




SCRATCHING SHED WITH DUST BATH. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 21 

THE RUN. 

Give the fowls all the range you can spare. The 
less room you have the more particular you must be 
about cleanliness, although this is important under all 
circumstances. With a light, dry top soil, or even sifted 
ashes, constantly raked over and often renewed, fowls 
can be kept healthy even in a covered run, so that those 
who have but little space can make up in attention what 
they lack in facilities. A grass run of half an acre will 
do for fifty light breed fowls, but would be hardly enough 
for the heavy breeds. Where more than this number 
are kept, and there are several houses, a gravel run for 
each house, and a large field of grass where the birds 
can go by turns, economizes the space. Fencing, when 
required, is easily made of wire netting, which is cheap 
and durable, especially when galvanized. The lighter 
the breed, the higher the fence, is a simple rule ; run- 
ning from a yard high for Cochins or Brahmas to eight 
feet for Game or Bantams. Hamburgs will mount 
almost any height of fence, and would better be clipped. 
This can best be done by opening one wing and cutting 
the first, or flight feathers, of which there are ten as a 
rule. This will prevent flying, and is not unsightly, as 
when the outer wings are mutilated. 



22 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



Where fowls have a whole farm to range in, there 
ought to be no trouble in keeping them healthy. 
Where the run is limited, but still large enough to allow 
it, the planting of fruit trees, or even of gooseberry or 
raspberry bushes, will afford an additional protection 
from the wind, besides inducing a supply of insects 
such as the birds enjoy for food. 

We have already mentioned a house with a double 
run as being desirable where there is not room enough 
for a very large run. We show here a cut of such a 
house. It will be seen that the accommodations are 
complete, no matter which of the runs is in use, the 
other being shut off simply by closing the approaches 
to it from the house. By building both runs on the 
same side of the house, the cost of one fence is saved. 







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TWO-SECTION HOUSE WITH SCRATCHING SHEDS AND YARDS. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 23 




CHAPTER IV. 

SELECTING STOCK. 

EQQ STOCK. 

Selecting stock is a matter of great importance, 
end depends upon the plan you have in view. If 
your principal object is to supply eggs, and your place 
is too small to raise chickens, you begin by getting in 
the spring as many hens as your house will carry com- 
fortably. They should be no older than a year. It is 
not worth while to buy a cock. The hens will lay 
almost as well without him, and you save in food and 
space. If you have bought good, healthy hens, they 
will begin laying at once, and keep at it until fall, if 
they are rightly fed and properly housed. The best 
plan is to buy breeds that do not sit ; but if a hen insists 
upon sitting she can be cured by keeping her a few 
days in a coop on hard ground, with water, but little 
food, sheltered of course from the direct sun in the hot 



24 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

weather. It is true that a Cochin cannot be brought to 
her senses in this way ; but it is better to do without 
Cochins when eggs are the only object. Other breeds, 
treated as well, will usually lay again in a fortnight. 

Buy only young birds, and healthy ones. It is only 
by practice that one learns to detect age in a fowl, but 
there are some signs that may be relied on in a general 
way. A young hen is usually trim and graceful, her 
legs are smooth and delicate, her comb and wattles soft 
and fresh looking. When she grows older she takes on 
flesh, her legs look hard and horny, and her comb and 
wattles dry and tough. The shrewdest of beginners may 
be deceived in spite of every care ; he must learn by 
experience. 

When the hens stop laying in the fall, do not let 
them get out of condition, but kill or sell them, and buy 
pullets hatched in the spring. These will have moulted 
already, and will begin laying in October or November, 
and produce eggs pretty regularly until the winter is 
over. They can then be killed or disposed of and 
replaced ; or the best of them may be kept until fall, 
when none but extra good layers will be worth keeping 
over another winter. 

Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Houdans, Leghorns, 
Minorcas and Rhode Island Reds may be chosen as good 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 25 

layers, and will give no trouble by anxiety to sit. 
When there is more space, Hamburghs will be found 
satisfactory. Except when moulting, they lay all the 
year around, although the eggs are not large. They 
want plenty of range. Hamburgs must not be crowded. 
Four or five are enough for one shed, and they must be 
kept clean. 



CHICK STOCK. 

If chicken raising is to be gone into as well as the 
producing of eggs, there must, in the first place, be 
plenty of room. It is a mistake to try and raise chick- 
ens in small quarters, where profit is the object. Of 
course, if it is a mere matter of diversion, it can be done 
even in a limited space. 

With room enough, then Plymouth Rocks, White 
Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Brahmas or L,angshans 
will be best chosen for the purpose of raising chickens. 
They are all good layers, without being too much bent on 
sitting, like Cochins. The last may be kept to serve as 
brood hens, but they are not to be set on their own eggs, 
if the chickens are for the market. It is a fact, though, 
that a Cochin hen, crossed with a Dorking, Crevecoeur 
or Houdan cock, will produce a large and fairly good 



26 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

table fowl ; nor are young Cochins, killed under nine 
months, at all to be despised on the home table. 

Probably the finest and hardiest of the table fowls 
is the Houdan. They do best on the farm, where they 
have ample range. They lay well and grow quickly, 
and their flesh is as fine as that of the Dorking, which 
has to be so carefully reared that it is hardly to be 
recommended, although its flesh is acknowledged to be 
equal to almost anything else that can be put on the 
table. 

Let it be remembered that, no matter what breed is 
chosen, spring birds must replace, or at least be added 
to, the stock every fall. This is the only way to have 
eggs in the winter. 




SKELETON OF CHICKEN. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



27 




CHAPTER V. 

FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



FLESH OR EGGS. 

This chapter will treat only of the feeding and 
management of adult fowls. Chicks will be given a 
separate chapter. Feeding has two objects: One is 
to produce flesh ; the other, to produce eggs. If the 
fowls are intended for the market, the quantity and 
quality of the flesh is of great importance. If they are 
wanted for laying only, too much flesh is a fault — for fat 
hens will not lay, and a laying hen should never be so 
fat as to prevent her gizzard from being felt. A fat 
male bird, too, is lazy and unhealthy. On the other 
hand, it will not do to starve the fowls. They must 
have enough, or they will be good for nothing. In this, 
as in all other matters, the middle course is the safe 
one — neither stint nor overfeed. 



28 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

MOW TO FEED. 

It is a good rule to give the fowls as much as they 
will scramble for, and then stop. If they are not eager 
for more, they do not need more, and the surplus is 
worse than wasted. Two meals a day are enough 
where there is a run sufficiently large to allow the birds 
to forage for themselves. One of these should be given 
early in the morning, and the other just before roosting 
time in the evening. In winter, or where the run is 
limited, they ought to have three meals, but the midday 
meal should be a light one. The first feeding ought to 
be of soft food, so as to get promptly into the system, 
and not merely lodge in the crop, for the birds have had 
a long fast since supper. But in the evening grain is 
best, for it has all night to digest, and is more staying, 
which is especially important in the cold season. 



50FT FOOD. 

Soft food is easily made for a few fowls by boiling 
potato parings until they are soft, mashing them up 
with middlings and adding the proper quantity of Pratts 
Poultry Food. This mixture should be given warm, 
but not hot, in the winter time. If mixed hot the 
night before it can be kept covered, or in the oven, thus 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 29 

retaining the heat. For a larger number of fowls, some 
use small potatoes, as above ; but too much potato runs 
down the laying. Barley meal, mixed with hot water, 
may be used ; barley meal and middlings ; or cornmeal 
and middlings. All are good. Bran may be tried in 
place of middlings, but it sometimes causes inflammation 
of the bowels. Turnips or mangels, boiled, mashed, and 
mixed with meal or middlings, make excellent soft food. 
It is wise to put with soft food, however made, a small 
quantity of Pratts Poultry Food, which stimulates diges- 
tion and appetite, and assists assimilation and laying 
qualities. 



CHANGE OF FOOD. 



Fowls, like men, need variety. In winter, food that 
heats the blood is entirely proper ; in summer it should 
be avoided. Middlings in summer may be replaced in 
part by cornmeal in winter ; but too much cornmeal 
results in unhealthy fattening, and it ought always to be 
mixed with wheat middlings, not given pure. It is 
safer to give fattening food to the smaller and lighter 
breeds than to the larger and heavier. Avoid too much 
potato ; it is. starchy and fattening. Soft food should 
always be fed in clean troughs, and must not be sloppy, 



30 FRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

but crumbly. If it is too sticky, it will cling to the 
birds' bills, and fret them. Remove whatever they 
leave at once. Scald troughs at least once a week. 




DIFFERENT STYLES OF FEED TRAYS. 



GRAIN. 

Wheat is the ideal grain food, and is practically as 
cheap as other grains which do not go so far or furnish 
so much material for flesh and eggs. 

At a very successful poultry plant, the evening meal 
throughout the year is composed of half corn and half 
wheat, with now and then a quantity of oats mixed with 
it for a change. Barley and buckwheat are good egg 
producers ; but too costly for a regular diet. 

Never feed anything but sound grain ; poor, musty 
or mouldy grain will cause sickness, decrease in egg 
yield, and often death among your most valued fowls. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 31 

ANIMAL FOOD. 

Where the fowls are but few in number, the scraps 
from the family table will be all they will need in the 
way of meat; or, if they have a wide range, they will 
supply themselves. With a large number of fowls, and 
a comparatively small run, they should have a little 
liver mixed in their food every third day or so. Boil 
the liver, chop it fine, and mix it with the soft food, 
using the broth instead of water to mix with. Be 
careful; too much meat charges the quills with blood, 
and causes the fowls to pluck each other. Fresh 
chandlers' scraps, clams and fish may also be given, and 
will be eagerly eaten. 

The most valuable machine around a poultry plant 
is a good bone cutter. 

Fresh cut bones, given twice a week in summer and 
three times a week in winter, will keep the fowls healthy 
and add greatly to the egg yield. 

One or two ounces to a fowl is sufficient. Feed in 
troughs at the noon hour. 



VEGETABLE FOOD. 

The fowls cannot be kept healthy without a daily 
and ample feeding of fresh vegetable food. The laying 



32 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

down of the runs in grass, where there is plenty of 
room, will supply the best green food. If this cannot 
be done for want of space, they must have green food 
thrown to them. Cabbage leaves may be minced up and 
mixed with the soft food, or turnips may be halved or 
chopped, and put in the shed. Better than either, cut a 
large sod of turf and throw it into the run. Without 
green food the fowls will go off in looks and condition, 
and stop laying. In winter, boiled potatoes and raw 
cabbage make a desirable addition to the food. 

Clover, cut in small pieces, and either fed in the soft 
food at the morning meal, or soaked and given at noon, 
is the best green food known for poultry, aiding in the 
development of both the egg and shell. 



DEVELOPING PULLETS. 

Those who are raising pullets for layers should care- 
fully distinguish between the food that is necessary for 
making cockerels fit for market and that which will de- 
velop the laying pullets. A very large percentage of 
layers are both temporarily and permanently injured in 
ability to produce eggs by the improper course of feeding 
which many poultry keepers employ. We rarely see large 
quantities of corn or cornmeal given to colts or calves to 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 33 

assist in bringing them to maturity. Oats, bran, clover 
and Pratts Food are best for this purpose. When food 
is given in excess to a growing animal, not only is the 
food wasted, but its digestive apparatus is weakened ; 
when an almost exclusive diet of corn is fed, the grow- 
ing chick must eat excessive quantities of it to get 
enough of the small percentage of muscle-forming ma- 
terial which it contains. Growing young fowls do not 
readily fatten; but as the pullets become somewhat 
matured, there is a tendency to take on internal fat, 
which can be only a hindrance to egg production. Corn 
should be fed sparingly in the poultry yard, both in 
summer and winter. 

The growing pullet should be fed solely with a 
view to the development of her frame and egg-producing 
organs, and for this purpose the same food that is best 
for laying hens is the best for her, since growth is 
regarded in both cases — in the one the growth of the 
egg } and in the other of bone and tissue. The chicks 
and laying stock can thus be fed with the same ration, 
which will prove a matter of economy in labor. When 
the cockerels become troublesome to the pullets they 
can be separated and fed separately upon the same food, 
or upon a diet composed more largely of commeal, if it 
is desired to fatten them. 



34 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

There is nothing better for growth and perfect 
development than milk, oatmeal, chopped clover, bran 
and Pratts Poultry Food. Every element required is 
contained in these, and in such proportions that the 
digestive organs will not be overtaxed by needless effort 
to secure enough of what is needed. It is preferable to 
feed the milk in the form of sour curd, taking care, of 
course, that it is not kept too long after becoming sour. 
In this form it is highly relished by fowls, and is assimi- 
lated with no risk of bowel trouble. It is best to grind 
the oats, as they can then be digested with less tax upon 
the bird. The clover is best cut fine with a clover cutter, 
or by running it several times through an ordinary hay 
cutter, then mixed with an equal bulk of oatmeal and 
bran. This should be thoroughly moistened with boiling 
water, and allowed to stand during the day, or over 
night, if possible, as it will then be so softened as to be 
readily digested. The clover may be cut and used in 
its green state, or cut when in blossom and cured out of 
the sun, for use in winter. It is one of the best foods for 
growth, but on account of its bulky character must be 
fed in connection with more concentrated foods of a 
similar nature. 

In addition to those foods, an occasional ration of 
cooked vegetables of various kinds will be beneficial. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



35 



If the pullets are confined in yards, a little ground meat 
or lean scraps from the butcher's shop, boiled and mixed 
with their soft food, should be given them. 



WATER. 

At least once a day, and the oftener the better, the 
drinking water must be renewed. Some device that 
will keep the water pure and cool and the vessel clean 
is essential. Many such are easily to be had, but a 
vessel that can be taken apart easily, and cleaned thor- 
oughly, is the best. The cut shows a practicable water 
fountain that meets these requirements. 




WATER FOUNTAIN 
OPEN. 



WATER FOUNTAIN 
CLOSED. 



STONEWARE 
FOUNTAIN. 



Where pans are used, they must be emptied and 
refilled very often, and so placed that they are not likely 
to have dirt scratched into them by the birds. Never 
leave your fowls without water, except on winter nights, 
when it may be best to have the vessels empty, to avoid 



36 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

freezing. Ice or snow in the water will take the flesh 
off the fowls inevitably. 




LIME AND GRIT. 

Lime in some form is indispensable for the forma- 
tion of egg shells, and should be within the reach of 
fowls at all times. Lime from an old ceiling or brick- 
layers' rubbish is suitable. Kgg shells are also excel- 
lent, but should not be given without first being finely 
broken, or hens may thereby be taught to eat their own 
eggs. Oyster shells, so often recommended, are of little 
value. Lime water is the most effectual remedy for 
hens laying soft-shell eggs ; a few teaspoonfuls to a pint 
of water is sufficient. Egg shells, broken finely and 
mixed with the meal, are also useful. Hens in their 
natural state necessarily pick up, with their food, a large 
amount of shell-forming material, as well as gravel ; 
but when fed without these being added, and left to 
their own inclination in picking them up, they, no 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 37 

doubt, obtain a much smaller proportion of these neces- 
sary adjuncts ; we should therefore endeavor to imitate 
nature by adding these to their food. 

Good sharp grit, such as crushed flint or granite 
crystal, is absolutely necessary to the health of your 
fowls, both young and old, and it should always be kept 
within their reach. 

MANURE. 

Cleanliness is only to be had by collecting the drop- 
pings daily. The best plan is to have a wide board, so 
fastened that it can be easily removed, under the roosts. 
This can be cleaned daily and the droppings collected 
in a box kept for that purpose. Mixed with soot, fine 
ashes or dry earth, they make a strong manure, excellent 
on cabbage or strawberry beds, and in fact anywhere, 
diluting when necessary. Gardeners know its value. 



CARE OF NESTS. 

The straw in the nests should be softened by break- 
ing and beating before it is put in — and it must be 
changed often, so as not to get foul — otherwise the birds 
will lay outside rather than use the nests. Excelsior is 
frequently used, but most poultrymen prefer good dry 
grass. The nests should be frequently dusted with 
Pratts Powdered Lice Killer. 



38 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

GATHERING THE EGGS. 

Eggs should be gathered at regular times, say twice 
a day. Trap nests will enable the gatherer to know the 
egg of every hen. This is important when chickens 
are to be raised, as it is possible thus to be sure of the 
character of the brood by selecting eggs of known 
parentage 

FEATHERS A PROFIT. 

With a large stock of fowls, the feathers can be 
made an item of profit. Mix with the small feathers 
the plumage stripped from the quills of the larger ones, 
and place them loosely in paper bags. Hang them up 
in a warm place to dry, and after a few days bake them 
several times for about half an hour in a slow oven, 
hanging them up again for two or three days between 
the bakings. Thorough drying and baking makes the 
feathers crisp, and avoids the danger of offensiveness. 




PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 




CHAPTER VI. 

HATCHING. 
SELECTING EGGS. 

To avoid poor results in hatching, the eggs must be 
selected carefully. They must come from strong and 
healthy birds, and give promise of fertility. To get eggs 
from a place where there is only one cock to more than 
six or eight hens, is to invite failure in hatching, and the 
same is true where the cock is poor spirited and underfed. 
Select only fresh eggs — for stale ones, if they hatch at all, 
will produce weak chicks, and take longer in hatching. 
In getting eggs ready to set, from your own stock, write 
on each with a pencil the date of its laying, and keep it 
in a rack or in bran, butt downwards, where it cannot 
be shaken or jolted. Some pretend that the sex of the 
chick can be told from the looks of the egg } but it can- 
not be done ; nor can you be certain that an egg is fertile 
until it has been sat on for a short time at least. 



40 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

SITTING HENS. 

Brahmas and Cochins make good mothers, but they 
are clumsy and apt to break the eggs. Plymouth 
Rocks, L,angshans, Dorkings, Game and Dominiques 
are all good sitters, If it can be done conveniently, 
sitting hens should have a separate shed and run to 
themselves, to keep other hens off their nests. A shed 
five by five, with a run five by ten feet, will do very well 
for a sitting hen, but she ought to be where the other 
fowls can see her, so that she shall not be treated as a 
stranger when she comes off with her brood. If there 
is not space enough for separate sheds, or where several 
hens are set in the same shed, they ought to be lifted 
carefully off the nest every morning, and their wants 
attended to, and after putting them back they ought to 
be shut in so as not to be disturbed. Sitting hens must 
be watched — to see that they get their food and water 
regularly, and be taken off for that purpose, if they do 
not go off of their own accord. Do not feed on the 
nest, or you may cripple your hens for life. It is neces- 
sary to successful hatching, too, that the eggs be not 
sat upon constantly. They need a daily airing, and 
may be left uncovered for fifteen to twenty minutes 
without harm. The dust bath must not be forgotten. 
It is especially important at breeding time, for the 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 41 

avoidance of vermin. In addition, the hen and her nest 

should be well dusted with Pratts Lice Killer until 

within four days before the hatch. 

In removing a sitting hen from her nest care should 

be taken that no eggs are caught under her wings, as 

they may fall on and break the others. If an egg breaks 

over the others, or the nest is in any way fouled, the 

eggs should be carefully sponged off in warm water, and 

f 
all broken shells removed. The hen should also be 

kept clean. Foulness of any sort in a nest will seriously 
affect the success of the hatch, and perhaps destroy it 
altogether. 



THE NEST FOR SETTING. 

When a hen is left to herself, she will always select 
a damp, cool spot for her nest. The hatch may fail 
entirely if the nest is too dry. Where the ground is 
damp and cool it is only necessary to hollow out the 
earth under the nest box, which should only have a top 
and three sides, but no front or bottom, and put in a 
little broken straw, with some fresh cut grass under it. 
Shape the straw into the form of a shallow bowl, 
making sure that the corners are filled up, so that the 
eggs shall not roll into the corners and become addled. A 



42 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



fresh sod is not a bad bedding for a nest. In all cases 
have the materials clean and fresh. In very dry weather 
it may be necessary, during the last ten days of the 
sitting, to sprinkle the eggs freely once a day with luke- 
warm water, replacing the hen immediately afterwards. 
If the nest is off the ground, this ought undoubtedly to 
be done ; if it is on damp ground, the necessity will 
depend on the state of the weather. 

A first-rate nest box, found at almost any poultry 
dealer's, is one with a solid top, to which is affixed 
a handle for lifting the box. The bottom is made 
of wire netting, and the front of the same ; but the 
latter is set in a frame so as to form a door, taking up 
about two-thirds of the front, the rest being solid. The 
door can be opened and closed at will — for letting the 
hen out, or secluding her, as desired. Holes for ventila- 
tion are bored in the top and sides. Such a nest is 
simple and inexpensive, and answers all purposes. 




HEN SITTING IN ORDI- 
NARY NEST, 



MODERN NEST BOX. 



HEN SITTING ON 
©ROUND NEST. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 43 

HOW TO SET EGGS. 

It will not do to put too many eggs under a hen. 
Eleven are enough in the spring, thirteen in summer. 
In January, seven or eight are all it is safe to put in the 
nest. If a hen is known to be a good mother, she can 
be set on the eggs as soon as she shows signs of being 
broody. If she is inexperienced, or her habits are not 
known, she would better be tried with dummy eggs first. 
Night is the best time to set a hen. Put the eggs in a 
nest ; place food and water near by ; then throw a light 
on the eggs. The hen will usually feed herself, and 
then step on the nest. If she will not go on by herself, 
force her gently, and, after putting her on, shut her in; 
by morning she will be very much at home. Before 
setting the eggs, mark them all around with ink or 
pencil, so as to be able to tell if any new ones are laid 
in the nest ; if so, they should be taken out as soon as 
found. 

TESTING SETTING EGGS. 

Egg testers are cheap and easily obtained. The 
eggs should be tested on the seventh day. When held 
towards the light in the tester, fertile eggs will show a 
dark life-spot in the center, shading off gradually toward 
the edges. Barren eggs will show perfectly clear, and 



44 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



should be removed. They will not prove to have been 
spoiled by being sat on, but can be used for cooking or 
feeding chickens. By taking out the barren eggs, and 
doubling up the live eggs in two nests under one hen, a 
new lot may be set under the other hen. In testing 
eggs at night, they must not be held too close to the 
flame, or the chicks may be destroyed by excessive heat. 




MODERN EGG TESTER. FERTILE EGG. 



BARREN EGG. HOME-MADE TESTER. 



FEED FOR SITTING HEN. 

Besides what has been stated above, a word may be 
said as to feeding the hen. She should not have soft 
food, as that will loosen her bowels, and she will foul 
the nest. Corn, wheat or barley are proper foods for a 
sitting hen. If she stays off her nest too long, put her 
back ; but do not be alarmed, in warm weather, if she 
should take a half hour's outing. In cold weather, 
fifteen minutes is long enough, and on cold days you 
may have to protect the eggs during the absence of the 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 45 

hen, so as to keep them from chilling. They must, 
however, have a daily airing, or they will not hatch. 
When the hen is off, look at the eggs and see that they 
are clean and unbroken. 



SECOND OR WATER TEST. 

On the nineteenth day the water test may be ap- 
plied. Put the eggs one by one in a bucket about two- 
thirds full of water heated to about 105 degrees, or say 
as hot as the hand will comfortably bear. Spoiled eggs 
will sink, and should be thrown away. Live eggs will 
float, and in a little while will ( ' bob' ' up and down, as 
if the chicks were trying to jump out of the water. 
The advantages of this test are not only that it enables 
you to make room in the nest by taking away the dead 
eggs, but it softens the shells of the live ones, and 
makes it easier for the chicks to pick their way out. It 
is not essential, however, if you have selected fresh 
eggs and kept them from getting too dry. 



HATCHING. 

Chickens hatch as a rule in twenty-one days. 
There are one or two active breeds that break out a day 
sooner. 



46 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



When perfectly fresh eggs have been set, some of 
them will perhaps hatch on the twentieth day, especially 
after the water test. As soon as the hatching begins 
all broken egg shells must be removed, and the nest 
must be looked at every few hours for this purpose, 
otherwise the opened shells are likely to fit themselves 
on to the other eggs, and thus prevent the chicks from 
freeing themselves. It is usually not necessary to take 
away the chicks, unless the hatching is very uneven. 
If they are taken away, they ought to be kept in a 
basket, in a warm place, and covered over with a piece of 
new flannel. When a chick is unable to free itself, it is 
usually because it is weak, the reason probably being 
that the egg was not fresh when it was set. In such 
cases do not break the shell, but put the egg in a bowl 
of warm water for a minute or two, being careful not to 
let any water get in, if the shell is at all chipped. When 
more than one hen is sitting, the one that has hatched 
the most of her brood can be left with her chicks, and 
the belated eggs can be put under the other hen. 




PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



47 



Rg |B!SB SSZill 

*K »!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! iiiSSiml^ III 



CHAPTER VII. 

INCUBATORS AND BROODERS. 

ARTIFICIAL HATCHING 

is nothing new, having been practiced in Egypt and 
other Eastern countries for centuries. In warm, dry 
countries, it is not so much of a problem as in America, 
with its uncertain climate ; but the experimental stage 
is now past, and with proper care hatching " by hand" 
is an established fact. Generally speaking, the simpler 
the machinery the greater is the relative success. Intri- 
cate and expensive incubators are not desirable, because 
of the absolute necessity of constant attention to num- 
berless details. It is not our purpose to grind anybody's 
axe, hence we will not do any more than give a general 
description of a simple form of incubator, and make 
a few suggestions as to the running of it. So many 
hatchers are on the market that the choice among them 
must be a matter of individual preference, price and ease 
of management being duly considered. 



48 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

HATCHERS. 

A practical hatcher is one that perfectly regnlatef 
the application of heat, air and moisture ; that can be 
relied upon to do its work when attended to at regulai 
periods ; that can be left alone over night without fear 
of overheating or cooling off the eggs ; that will hatch 
out healthy chickens ; and that any one with common 
sense and average judgment can learn how to operate. 
Ten dollars will buy such a hatcher, large enough to 
carry a hundred egg's ; and for a little more than twice 
the money one can be had which will carry three 
hundred. 

The most approved incubators apply the heat from 
the top entirely, and a uniform temperature is secured 
by the use of a metal thermostat of simple construction, 
which automatically works a valve and keeps constant 
any degree of heat desired. The source of heat is a 
lamp, burning in a tube; and ventilation is secured by 
a second tube outside the lamp-tube, conducting the 
heated air over the moisture pans placed in the top of 
the egg chamber. The moist, warm current of air then 
decends among the eggs, escaping through apertures 
in the front of the hatcher, which are fitted with slides 
so as to regulate the outlet, thus controlling the amount 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



49 



of moisture. Egg-turning trays and testers are fur- 
nished by the maker of the incubator. When conve- 
nient, natural or manufactured gas can be employed for 
heating instead of oil. 

In recent incubators the egg chamber is made deep, 
so that the chicks when hatched drop into a nursery 
below, and the doors are not opened until the hatch is 
over. For practical purposes, it is desirable to have 
more than one hatcher going at once, so that the live 
eggs after the first test can all go into one, and a new 
lot of eggs be started in another. 

The points have all been so thoroughly covered by 
the manufacturers, that with a good incubator, all that 
is necessary is to faithfully follow the maker's instruc- 
tions. Carelessness or inattention will necessarily result 
in disappointment. 




HOT-AIR INCUBATOR. 



50 * PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 




FOUR-SECTION HOT-WATER PIPE INDOOR BROODER- 

ARTIFICIAL BROODERS. 

Nine dollars will buy an in-door brooder large 
enough to go with a small incubator, and for the same 
price a sectional brooder is sold — five dollars extra being 
charged for each additional three-foot section. This 
brooder is also heated by a large lamp, and the heat is 
regulated automatically. When the poultry business is 
done on a large scale a hot-water outfit is wanted, and 
these are furnished with an elaborate system of piping ; 
but to begin with the small brooders are sufficient, and 
can be used afterwards as nurseries when the business 
has outgrown their use exclusively. We show a cut of 
one of these small brooders and on the next page one 
of an out-door brooder, in which the heat is supplied by a 
lamp, and kept <*< distant by the use of hot water. It is 
set on runners, au/1 ran be moved about like a shed. It 
will accommodate from ioo to 150 chicks, and it is 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



51 



claimed that a pint of oil will run it for twenty-four 
hours in the coldest weather. 

It would be tiresome to the reader, as well as use- 
less, to go into further details on this subject, as a postal 
card sent to any manufacturer will bring you a catalogue 
covering more information than you can digest. We 
shall, however, say a few words as to the operating. 



W^^^T\Jm El \\ 


1 *l ft 


!*iriT. 



HOT-WATER PIPE OUTDOOR BROODER- 



52 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 




OUTSIDE VIEW OE HOME-MADE BROODER. 
INSIDE CONSTRUCTION OF HOME-MADE BROODER. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 53 

HOME-MADE BROODER. 

For the convenience of those who do not desire to 
spend the money for a manufactured brooder, we show 
cuts of a cheap home-made brooder, which any one can 
make at a trifling cost. For a hundred chicks, a base 
measurement of two feet by four will be sufficient ; for 
two hundred chicks, three feet by six is recommended. 
Two dollars and a half will buy the material. 

The upper illustration shows the outside, and is so 
plain that very little explanation is needed. Buy your 
glass frames first, and make brooder to fit frames. Win- 
dow panes should be 8 by 10 inches. Entrance and lamp 
hole should not be closed, as the lamp must have air. The 
joint should be a tight one (dovetail preferred) as a draught 
would result seriously. The lower illustration is a 
cross section, and is thus described : Heat is supplied by 
a 2-in. wick lamp with flat bottom L, over which is sus- 
pended an inverted box with a galvanized sheet iron bot- 
tom A, and having in its sides ventilating or gas-holes 
G G. An inch above the sheet iron is a platform C, on 
which the chicks are placed ; the space between forming 
a hot-air chamber B 2 in. high. Fresh air is supplied 
by a shaft H, which can be made from i-in. speaking 
tube, and from the shaft passes into the chamber B, 



54 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

where it becomes heated, and thence rises through a 
warm-air pipe F. i in. in diameter into the brooder pen 
P. P. Here it is partially confined by a cover D, adjust- 
able in height according to the size of the chicks, along 
the edge of which is fastened a woolen curtain B, 
notched so as to let the chicks run in and out. The 
warm air circulates through the brooding pen thus 
formed, and finds outlet through ventilators V V V in 
the roof of M M. The platform C is hinged at the point 
T, so that the slope R can be raised or lowered at will 
by the cord N. It is supported when raised by the 
spring S. It is important to have the slope inside rather 
than outside the brooder door. When inside, the chicks 
are invited by the open door, and when in they usually 
find their way up the slope to the pen ; but if the slope 
is outside the door they may fail to find the entrance, 
and be chilled before they can do so. The raising of the 
slope makes a double floor space and gives plenty of 
room for the chicks inside when the weather is too bad 
to let them go out. 

This form of brooder gives a constant circulation of 
warm, pure air ; dries all droppings and renders them 
inoffensive ; avoids all danger of crushing or crowding, 
and is in every way reliable, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 55 

RUNNING THE INCUBATOR. 

The same rules that we have given in Chapter VI 
apply here ; but let it be remembered that eggs brought 
from a distance should be given a rest of twenty-four 
hours before they are put into the incubator. In 
artificial hatching omit the water test. The cellar 
of a dwelling is a first-rate place to set an incubator, 
on account of the uniformity of temperature. Keep 
it out of draughts. 



RUNNING THE ARTIFICIAL BROODER. 

The brooder comes in play say twelve hours after 
hatching. Cleanliness is the watchword if you would 
avoid vermin. Do not keep the chicks too closely con- 
fined. In cold weather set the brooder on earth, or on 
a sanded floor, in a close room, or a shed with plenty of 
light and a warm exposure. When frost is out of the 
ground it can go out-of-doors, but there should be a wire 
run around it. Warmth in the brooder must be seen to, 
especially at night ; but after the brood is a fortnight old 
there will be no necessity to heat in the daytime, when 
the weather is bright. 

Justice to the maker of any machine requires that 
liis rules should be followed, and as full instructions 



56 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

always accompany the brooder, no difficulty should be 
experienced if the directions are studied and kept in 
mind. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

REARING CHICKENS. 

FIRST CARE OF LITTLE CHICKS. 

Chickens need no food for twelve hours after they 
are hatched, and it will not hurt them to wait twenty- 
four hours. If the eggs were set in the evening, they 
are likely to hatch in the afternoon or evening. Before 
closing up for the night, let the brood be examined, all 
broken shells removed from the nest, and the hen be fed 
and watered. Then shut her in so that she cannot 
leave her nest. In the morning the chicks will be 
strong, lively and hungry. Give then their first meal 
in the nest, and make it of corn bread, made of corn 
meal and Pratts Poultry Food — two ounces of the Food 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 57 

with every pound of meal ; mix with sour milk if con- 
venient. The bread should be crumbled fine before 
feeding. Young chicks should never be fed on raw 
dough. It sours on the stomach, and causes many of 
the complaints to which they are liable. L,et the hen 
have some of the bread crumbs, as well as all the corn 
she will take ; also, plenty of water for the chicks. Milk 
is also very grateful. 

Do not try to improve on nature by trying to re- 
move the little hard or horny scale from the beak of the 
chick, and do not force its appetite by poking food or 
pepper-corns down its throat. Let it learn to eat and 
drink naturally. 

Pans or dishes for milk or drinking water should be 
very shallow, or the chicks may drown themselves. 
The best plan for water is to use a fountain giving a 
constant supply, but preventing the chickens from step- 
ping into the water. In fine, warm weather, the brood 
may be moved out-of-doors as soon as fed. In cold or 
wet weather they should be coddled by the hen on the 
nest for a day longer, and when removed it should be 
to a dry and sheltered place. One great trouble with 
the little fellows is the "head lice," with which they are 
very apt to be more or less infested — not because the 
lice are so difficult to get rid of, but because they are so 



58 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



often neglected, probably on account of not knowing 
their presence. 

A good home-made remedy consists of pure lard 
(not grease fried out of fat meat), which should be 
rubbed on the heads and throats of the little chicks, and 
the amount of Pratts Poultry Food increased. 

It is always well, therefore, to make a thorough 
examination of the head and throat of every chick about 
ten days after the hatch, and if any of them are found 
to be so infested, lose no time in quickly applying Pratts 
Lice Killer. Repeat every week. This simple treat- 
ment will surely put an end to the lice. 




BARREL COOP. 



COOPS FOR LITTLE CHICKS. 

A cheap and good chicken coop can be made by 
heading up a flour barrel and sawing it in two across 
the middle. Either half will serve for a coop by cover- 
ing the open part with slats. A little skill will make, 
or small amount of money will buy, a better coop. The 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



59 



main things to look at are : that the coop should be dry, 
easily ventilated but not draughty, and readily movable. 
The slats should be wide enough apart to let the chicks 
through, but not the hen ; and there should be a shutter 
that can be put on at night. Coops must not be put too 
close together, nor too near to the other fowls. Wire 
runs for each coop are desirable, to keep the broods from 
mixing. Wherever the coop is put, it should be on dry, 
loose earth, and be frequently removed to renew the 
same and prevent fouling ; or the coop itself may be 
moved bodily every few days to another place. A very 
handsome coop is one made in two compartments, one 



.^^^ 


T^gp., 






II! 




nM ^^ urt F~7mm"*Lij 





COOP WITH OPEN SHED. 



with a closed front and the other with bars. A bar par- 
tition separates the compartments, and one bar in each 
set slides up and down so as to make a door. Each half 
is about two and a half feet square. The top is solid, 
with a pane of glass in it, if desired. To make all snug 
at night, it is only necessary to hang a piece of canvas 



60 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

or carpet over the bars of the open compartment, and 
the chicks which sleep under the hen in the closed half 
can run into the other for a light breakfast in the early 
morning without getting chilled, some canary seed 
having been left there for them the night before. The 
coop ought to be further sheltered by a shed or lean-to, 
open to the south ; and, indeed, a much simpler coop will 
do very well under a shed. If there is no shed, a good 
rain-proof coop can be made from nine-inch-w T ide planks, 
with some square stuff to use for framing at the corners, 
and along the top and bottom, in front, as shown in cut. 



^jjjffi,,. M ^^S^jjj^ Jfefe' 


llf^P^^B" "" 




^*^^ V 


f ^B"^^fe^ ,; 



COOP FOR YOUNG CHICKS. 



This coop, which is made to fit over a raised floor, will 
shed rain, and do well in all weathers. The floor must 
be covered daily with fresh, dry earth, or fine sifted 
ashes. Chicks must be cooped near grass, if possible. 
A grass run, even if it is small, is very important, for 
green food is essential to health. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 61 




FOOD FOR LITTLE CHICKS. 

The best possible food for young chickens is crumbs 
of corn bread, made with meal and Pratts Poultry Food, 
as before described. It is always best to bake bread 
enough at a time to last them a couple of days, and they 
should be fed four or five times a day at the very least. 
To feed often, and a little at a time, is the best rule for 
young chickens. So continue to feed for a week or two, 
after which they should have a greater variety. A point 
of the highest importance is regularity in giving them 
their morning feed. If their first meal is put off until 
long after sunrise they will suffer from hunger, and will 
not thrive as they ought. For the first three or four 
days yelk of egg y boiled hard and chopped fine, may 
be given daily ; after that, a little boiled meat, finely 
minced, should be given every day until the chicks are 
nearly a month old. In fact, fowls need three kinds of 
food — animal, grain, and fresh vegetable food ; and one 
half of their food should be cooked, as it digests better 



62 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

so. Green food is even more necessary to chicks than 
to grown birds. When the chicks are very young, grass 
may be cut fine with scissors, and mixed with their 
other food ; or lettuce or cabbage leaves, minced fine, 
may be given. After their beaks are stronger, these 
may be thrown in whole, instead of being cut up. 



WATER FOR LITTLE CHICKS. 

Some breeders advocate keeping water away from 
chickens during their first month ; but this is against 
nature. It is important, however, that the water should 
be cool, and it pays to be careful in this respect, not 
only with chicks but with grown fowls. As soon as 
the water gets at all warm it should be spilled and re- 
newed, otherwise the birds will have diarrhoea and 
other troubles. 



SHIFTING FOR THEMSELVES. 

After the first week the wire run may be dispensed 
with, and the chicks given their liberty. In another 
week the hen may be let out, but she ought not to be 
given too much of a run at first, or she will lead her little 
ones too far and overtax their strength. It is a good 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



63 



plan to dig up the soil, where there are plenty of worms, 
so as to give the chickens a chance to scratch and thus 
supply themselves with the animal food which is, as 
stated before, an essential part of their diet. By the rime 
they are six or eight weeks old the hen will show signs 
of restlessness, and she should then be relieved of her 
charge. The latter may then need protection at night 
in the shape of a "cold mother," which consists of a 
wooden frame with canvas stretched over it — strips of 
thin felt or flannel being suspended from the under side 
of the canvas. Here they can cuddle and keep warm if 
the weather is cold. It is not a bad plan to separate the 
chickens from the older fowls at night until they are 
strong enough to defend themselves. 




COLD MOTHBR. 



64 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

MOVABLE HOUSES. 

Small houses on wheels, or light enough to be 
moved about on a cart or barrow, are recommended 
where there is plenty of room. These make it easy 
to keep the chickens separate, as above suggested ; and 
such houses may also be used for older fowls where the 
number kept is large. 




MOVABLE HOUSE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EGGS AND POULTRY FOR THE MARKET. 

EGGS FOR MARKET. 

When eggs are scarce and dear the poulterer who 
can supply the market will reap a corresponding profit. 
New-laid eggs at such times are not worth their weight 
in gold, but they are a sure seller. How to produce eggs 
when they are most needed is then a valuable secret. To 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



65 



make hens lay we know of nothing so sure as Pratts 
Poultry Food. Its value in this respect is backed by 
countless testimonials from all over the country. Other 
things being equal, the man who feeds Pratts Poultry 
Food to his hens will draw steadily ahead of his com- 
petitors who fail to use it, and leave them far behind in 
the matter of eggs produced. There are, of course, 
other things to see to. As we have already said in 




Chapter IV the stock must be young to begin with, 
and must be kept so ; and they must be fed liberally, 
but not profusely. If you want eggs, keep breeds that 
are naturally good layers, such as Plymouth Rocks, 
Wyandottes, Black Hamburgs, I v angshans, Houdans, Leg- 
horns or Minorcas. Any of these hatched in March or 
April will begin to lay in the fall, and will continue 
right through the winter, especially when fed Pratts 
Poultry Food. It need give you no concern that the 
eggs are small at first; the size will soon improve. You 



66 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

cannot expect birds hatched in May or June to lay until 
the following spring, except when the fall and winter 
are very mild. Those hatched in January or February 
will begin to lay about August ; but they soon moult, 
and cannot be depended on to lay in the winter. Hence 
we recommend March or April hatched birds not over 
two years old. If half your stock of layers is bred each 
year, and half sold or killed, it will keep your stock as 
young and vigorous as need' be. 



MARKETING THE EGOS. 

What we have said about the value of new-laid 
eggs makes it important to market your eggs promptly 
after they are laid. A reputation for absolute freshness 
of your eggs will show in the price you can command, 
for there are always buyers who will gladly pay more 
for a surely good article. It also pays to be careful in 
getting your eggs to market clean and whole. Trifles 
tell. If you cannot get them to market immediately, 




EGG TRAY. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



67 



have a shelf with holes in it, and set the eggs in, butt 
downward. For shipping, locked boxes are easily ob- 
tained, with cardboard partitions and felt sheets, making 
a quick, safe and handy means of transportation. When 
you ship every day you can perhaps improve your price 
by dating each egg^ the endorsement operating as a guar- 
antee of freshness ; but in a large business this would 
be a good deal of a burden, and might or might not 
pay, according to the character of your market. It can 
be done very quickly with a rubber stamp that can be 
procured especially for the purpose at a very small outlay. 






EGG-SHIPPING BOX. 



CHICKENS FOR MARKET. 

Early poultry, like early eggs, sells at paying prices. 
To have this, the mating for the earliest hatches should 
be done in the forepart of November, with first-year 
pullets. Let the cock be young and active, and allow 
not more than six hens to each cock. Eggs laid in 
winter or late fall should be gathered promptly, so as not 



68 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

to get frosted in the nest. The plan of using your pul- 
lets for breeding is not recommended unless the chickens 
thus produced are for killing — for immature mothers 
will, in time, run down any race of fowls ; and what is 
said about "keeping the stock young" must be taken 
with a grain of salt, and not pushed too far, if the chickens 
are to be reared to maturity. L,aying fowls, therefore, 
should be bred from second-year, not first-year birds; but 
to raise "broilers" or spring chickens for the market, eggs 
from young pullets are best, and will give the most satis- 
factory results. 

FATTENING. 

To make a good show on the table a bird must have 
some fat on it. It is because so little care is taken 
beforehand that there is so much lean poultry offered on 
the stalls. We have already referred to the Houdan as 
a fine table fowl, and likewise the Dorking. Besides 
these, L,a Fleche, Crevecceurs, Langshans, Plymouth 
Rocks and Wyandottes are all recommended. A cross 
of Game and Dorking gives a fowl with plenty of breast 
flesh — a thing highly desirable in a table fowl. To kill 
any fowl without fattening is to forfeit very much on the 
score of table qualities, to say nothing of appearance. 
It is true that fattening is not customary in this country ; 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 69 

but if it were generally adopted the result would be a 
great improvement in the quality and appearance of table 
fowls, and the taste of buyers would soon become 
so educated that scrawny or lean fowls would go beg- 
ging. In the meantime, the poultry producer whose 
fowls were made superior to the average by the fattening 
process would reap a harvest in better prices and quicker 
sales. Three weeks of fattening, in a semi-dark pen, 
by feeding fresh and sweet Indian, barley, oat or buck- 
wheat meal, mixed separately or all together with skim 
milk, and including Pratts Poultry Food, will add two 
or three pounds to the weight of the chicken in fine, 
juicy flesh. The milk should be boiled first, and the food 
mixed stiff until crumbly, then rounded into the shape 
of a pill and dipped into milk. Some fatteners make a 
practice of cramming these into the crop; but it is not 
necessary at all times, and seems repulsive to any but a 
veteran. Suet is sometimes added to the mixture 
in France, where cramming is the rule, and where, by 
the way, table poultry is seen at its very best. The 
fattening process must stop as soon as the birds cease to 
take on flesh, for they will lose it again otherwise. 



70 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



*? ~-% <?/ 




KILLING POULTRY FOR MARKET. 



For eighteen hours before killing the birds should 
have no food, so that all that is in the crop may be con- 
sumed. It is astonishing that anyone will buy a fowl 
with a crop full of corn — put there on purpose to make 
weight — and the shrewd buyer will avoid such a bird. 
Corn in the crop sours very soon, and thus the freshness 
of the fowl is lost. The best method of killing is to use 
the sharp knife especially sold for this purpose. The 
incision is made through the roof of the mouth and a 
quick thrust into the brain, which paralyzes the birds at 
once and is the most humane way to kill. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 71 

DRESSING POULTRY FOR THE MARKET. 

In France the bird is plucked immediately after 
killing, and then trussed on a shaping board, which con- 
sists of a flat board of the same width as the fowl, with 
a block at each end to support the neck and rump. 
Before placing it on the board, and while yet warm, the 
bird is manipulated by first bending in the rib bones, 
then pressing the knee into the back, forcing in the 
breast, and tying the legs over it. Then the fowl is laid 
on the board with the breast downwards, and a wet 
cloth is tied around the whole. This shaping not only 
makes the bird easy to cook, but easy to carve, and if 
the plan were followed here it would add much to the 
appearance of poultry on the stands as well as on the 
table. There is no doubt that care for the looks of the 
poultry when offered for sale is well bestowed, and will 
result in a good reputation for the producer, which will 
be of real value to him. As to the plucking, this is 
easy enough if done while the bird is warm, and should 
be followed by a careful singeing over burning paper 
and a quick dip in boiling water. 



72 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



CAPONS AND CAPONIZING. 

Size being an object in capons, only large breeds 
should be selected, especially Asiatics. They should not 
be killed until they are a year old. Caponizing is easily 
done by means of a few simple instruments made 
especially for the purpose, and sold by cutlers generally. 
The operation, which should be performed when the 
cockerel is from three to four months old, should not be 
attempted without first seeing it done by someone who 
knows how, as there is danger of cutting the intestines. 
Capons bring good prices in the large cities, where the 
delicacy of their flesh is known and appreciated. If 
desired, we will supply you with the caponizing instru- 
ments at a reasonable price. 




CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF POULTRY. 

"Not to put too fine a point upon it," disease in 
fowls may usually be traced to some error on the part 
of the keeper — either in faulty housing, crowding, want 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 73 

of cleanliness, failure to look after the dust bath, the 
food, or the water, or some other neglect. Pratts Poul- 
try Food will help wonderfully to keep fowls in good 
condition, or to cure them when they are sick, and will, 
to be sure, do much to overcome the want of proper 
care, but not absolute neglect. Of course it may 
happen that a yard may become infected from the intro- 
duction of strange chickens, and this, to be sure, is not 
the fault of the keeper. All new fowls or strangers 
should at once be fed on Pratts Poultry Food, to prevent 
the development of any disease with which they may 
possibly be infected. 



PRATTS POULTRY FOOD FOR ALL DISEASES. 

When fowls begin to show signs of illness, or your 
birds begin to die off unaccountably, you must, of course, 
try to remove the cause, and at the same time apply 
a remedy. It is so hard, however, to define the disease, 
usually, that in the first instance, at least, it is best to 
rely on a remedy which is known to be effective in 
correcting all curable ailments of poultry, rather than 
lose valuable time at a critical period in trying to diag- 
nose the case for the purpose of hitting on a specially 
prepared medicine, which may be the wrong one after 



74 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

all. You have in Pratts Poultry Food something that 
will cure, if the disease can be cured at all. The 
question has often been put to us : " How is it that 
Pratts Poultry Food will cure so many different ail- 
ments?" We are, therefore, anxious to explain our 
claims fully, so that while feeding our product, and 
knowing its full virtue, you will also understand why 
the results are so gratifying. It is like this : the father 
of an infant with a lusty Voice and powerful lungs 
asked a noted doctor what would keep the child quiet at 
night. The doctor recommended Dolbey -s Carminative. 
He was asked how he knew what ailed the youngster, 
and he replied : " I don't know where the pain is, and 
am not likely to find out, as the child can't tell me ; and, 
although I can judge, I can't confirm my judgment. 
When a child cries there is something the matter, and 
with this carminative the chances are ninety-nine in a 
hundred that it will strike the ailment." The child was 
treated accordingly, and stopped crying. The illustration 
is plain. As a poultry keeper you know, or if an amateur 
you will learn, that in many cases it is impossible to 
decide what ails your fowls, and even after reading the 
most elaborate list of symptoms described by makers of 
medicines for each particular disease, you are usually 
still in the dark. Now in Pratts Poultry Food you have 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 75 

just what the doctor had in the carminative — a pre- 
paration composed of a number of healthful ingredients 
(no minerals or poisons of any kind) which regulate 
and control the bowels, blood and digestive organs, and 
make the fowl robust and healthy, thereby producing 
flesh, bone and muscle — and eggs, of course, follow, as 
they are the natural product of healthy fowls. This is 
common sense, and proves itself; and in feeding Pratts 
Poultry Food, against the small cost of the food are to be 
considered the general health of the fowl, the increase of 
eggs, and the loss of very few — for those that you lose 
will be lost through accident, and not from disease. 

Pratts Poultry Food stands throughout the world 
acknowledged as a cure for roup, gapes, cholera, and, in 
fact, all the diseases of the flock; and in using it you 
will feel that you are doing the right thing, and have 
not selected a wrong remedy through making a mis- 
take in the symptoms of the disease. There are, how- 
ever, certain simple remedies which may be adopted, 
and it is to these we shall address ourselves, rather than 
advise you to set up a drug store on your place or take 
a course in medicine. 



76 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

ANEMIA. 

Lack of blood. Symptoms : Weakness, wasting 
of flesh, comb and wattles pale. Cause : Improper 
food — leads to indigestion, Roup, etc. Cure : Give bal- 
anced ration, with Pratts Poultry Food, and spray houses 
with Pratts Liquid Lice Killer. 



APOPLEXY. 

Caused by over-feeding or fright. Symptoms : Fall- 
ing from perch, peculiar motion of head, loss of control 
of limbs. Cure : Give a purgative, and bleed from large 
vein under wing. Reduce diet, and give mashes with 
Pratts Poultry Food. Keep in a quiet coop. 



ASTHENIA; or, Going Light. 

Cause : Lice or mites, bad digestion, improper food. 
Cure : Use Pratts Powdered Lice Killer on bird ; give a 
well-balanced ration, with Pratts Poultry Food. 



ATROPHY ; or, Wasting of the Liver. 

Cause : Lack of properly-balanced ration — practical- 
ly starvation. Symptoms : Fowls are dull, bad color of 
comb and wattles, refuse to exercise. Cure : Right diet, 
plenty of fresh water, and Pratts Poultry Food. One- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 77 

half teaspoonful "Fowler's Solution of Arsenic " maybe 
added to each quart of drinking water, and good results 
will follow. 

BLACK ROT. 

A condition of the comb caused by imperfect circu- 
lation of the blood through it. Hard to cure. Symp- 
toms : Darkening of the color of the comb ; loss of 
appetite of the bird, which remains on roost or in one 
position for hours. Cure : Paint comb with a prepara- 
tion of two ounces of Water, one ounce of Glycerine 
and four grains of Carbolic Acid Crystals. Keep bird 
in dry, sunny house. Give nourishing diet, with plenty 
of water and greens. 

BROKEN BONES. 

Unless young and the bird is valuable, kill and use 
for table. A young bird's bones quickly unite, and if 
the shank is broken, make splints of pine wood. Bandage 
leg with cotton cloth, wrapping around leg about twice, 
then put on the splints mentioned above and wind cloth 
over splints, sewing cloth tightly to prevent the splints 

from slipping. 

BRONCHITIS. 

Caused by exposure to storms, by cold, by irritating 
particles of dust or lime, and by foul air. Cure : Give 



78 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

homeopathic Tincture of Aconite and Pratts Poultry 
Food. 

BUMBLE FOOT. 

Caused by perches being too high, bruises, irritation 
from glass, splinters, small stones, etc., being imbedded 
in foot. Symptoms : Fowl limps, and stands on one 
leg ; corn appears on bottom of foot, which swells and 
ulcerates. Cure : With a sharp knife cut across the 
ulcer and remove all pus ; then paint the cavity with a 
solution of Nitrate of Silver, using ten grains to one 
ounce of water. Bind foot with clean rag and keep bird 
on clean dry straw until better. 



CANKER. 

Very contagious. Disinfect house and yards. Symp- 
toms : Bird has trouble swallowing food and water, sores 
in throat and on head. Cure : Similar to Diphtheria. Mix 
Pratts Roup Cure with drinking water. Apply scorched 
Powdered Alum to sores, or make a swab, moisten it, 
dip into Pratts Roup Cure, and rub on the sore spots. 



CATARRH. 

Similar to a mild case of Roup. Caused by cold 
winds and draughts. Symptoms : Fowl sneezes, shak- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 79 

ing the head, mucous membranes become thick, eye-lids 
sticky, and birds lose desire for food. Cure : Keep fowl 
in a warm, dry, sunny place. Give homeopathic Tinc- 
ture of Aconite and Pratts Poultry Food. For local 
treatment apply by an atomizer, twice a day, a solution 
composed of 30 grains of Sulphate of Quinine mixed 
with an ounce of hot water. 



CHICKEN POX. 

Symptoms : Yellowish pimples on head, weakness 
and loss of sight. It's contagious. Bird should be sep- 
arated from flock. Cure : Rub all affected parts with 
Vaseline, and mix Pratts Poultry Food with mash and 
give plenty of cut clover or green food. Disinfect 
buildings and yards with Pratts Liquid Lice Killer. 



CHOLERA. 

A germ disease, very contagious. Symptoms : 
Watery diarrhea, sluggishness, rough plumage, drooping 
wings, head dropped, great thirst, and eye-lids half 
closed. Cause : Generally started by filth, or given to 
healthy birds by the germs being carried to their Runs 
or houses. Cure : Disinfect thoroughly with Pratts 
Liquid Lice Killer all the houses and Runs. Remove to 
other quarters all well birds. Scald all troughs and 



80 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

drinking fountains. Give Pratts Poultry Food in mashes 
and Pratts Roup Cure in the drinking water. 



COLDS. 

Caused usually by exposure to cold, wet weather. 
Give Pratts Poultry Food and homeopathic Tincture of 
Aconite. 

CONGESTION OF LIVER. 

Symptoms : Iyack of color in comb and wattles, 
sluggishness, watery diarrhea, and loss of appetite. 
Cause : Overfeeding, too much starch in ration, and not 
enough exercise. Cure : Have mash largely composed 
of cut clover with bran, middlings, and Pratts Poultry 
Food. Give bird a teaspoonful of Castor Oil. Scatter 
grain in litter to induce exercise. 



CONSTIPATION. 

Stoppage of bowels, clogged vent, etc. Most com- 
mon in young chicks. Cause : No exercise, lack of 
green food, and food containing too little of the coarser 
kinds of grain. Cure : Increase bran and cut clover in 
mash with Pratts Poultry Food ; give plenty of green 
foods, such as cabbage, lettuce, etc. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 81 

CONSUMPTION AND TUBERCULOSIS. 

Consumption — Wasting of body and usually pre- 
ceded by Roup, Bronchitis or Pneumonia. Tuberculo- 
sis is always preceded by Roup, Bronchitis or Pneu- 
monia. More rapid than Consumption. In either 
case the birds become light, stop laying, comb and wat- 
tles get whiter and indigestion increases. Cure : Kill 
and burn all the sick birds. Clean out every part of the 
poultry house ; disinfect with Pratts L,ice Killer and 
whitewash. Put new litter in nests and on floor. Rake 
off a little of the bare surface of the Runs ; then disin- 
fect the entire Run, and plow if possible. Scald every 
trough and drinking vessel. Give plenty of good food 
and clean drinking water to the rest of the flock. Breed 
only from perfectly healthy birds and feed Pratts Poul- 
try Food regularly, as a preventive. 



CORNS. 

Thick cuticle at the sole of the foot. Cause : High 
or narrow perches, or from pebbles. Cure : Have 
proper perches, pare off the outer layers of hardened 
cuticle, and bathe daily with Tincture of Iodine. 

CROP BOUND. 

Impacture and and enlargement of the crop. Cause : 
Obstruction at the outlet of the crop by long pieces of 



82 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

grass or hay, and retention and swelling of grain. 
Usually started by gluttony and gorging. Cure : Give 
the bird some Castor Oil or Olive Oil ; then, holding 
the bird's head downward, work the contents of the crop 
with the ringers and gradually empty the crop at the 
mouth. Work very carefully and with patience. If 
this does not succeed, pluck the feathers from the breast, 
cut the outer skin about i in. in length near the upper 
part of the crop. Then cut through the crop, making 
an incision about half an inch in length. Carefully re- 
move contents of crop, and see that the outlet is not 
obstructed ; then sew with white silk the walls of the 
crop first. Care must be taken so that when sewing the 
walls of the crop nothing else is included. After this is 
done, the other tissues and skin should be drawn 
together with several stitches. In five or six days re- 
move the stitches from the outer skin and do not feed 
the fowl for at least twenty-four hours. Then feed 
lightly on well-cooked mashes, or bread and milk, for 
several days ; give no grain whatever. 



DIARRHEA. 



Caused in young chicks by chilliness and lack of 
mothering. In adult birds, from colds, coarse food, ab- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 83 

sence of grit, irregular feeding, improper food, filthy 
water, etc. Cure : Separate at once. Keep fowls warm 
and in a dry place. Give Pratts Poultry Food ; feed 
boiled rice, and thoroughly cook the mash. A dose of 
Castor Oil is good, and put one teaspoonful of Tincture 
of Iron to one quart of water for their drink. 



DIPHTHERIA. 

Winter disease. Caused by improper housing, and 
lack of cleanliness. Symptoms : Cold and high fever, 
with white spots in the throat, discharge from nostrils, 
and a stiff neck. Disease is very contagious and the 
fowl should be removed from the flock at once, and the 
house and yards thoroughly fumigated and disinfected. 
It generally proves fatal, and being so contagious and 
dangerous, we advise killing the bird at once, unless it 
is a very valuable one. Cure : Make a gruel of Pratts 
Poultry Food, and give a tablespoonful four times a day. 
Smoke the bird over burning sulphur, being very care- 
ful, as you may contract the disease from the bird. 
Spray throat with peroxide of hydrogen. Mix Pratts 
Roup Cure with drinking water. 



84 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

DROPSY. 

A collection of water found between tissues. Cause : 
Filthy houses and Runs and improper food. Cure : Put 
one teaspoonful of Nux Vomica to one quart of water 
for their drink. Have clean quarters, clean Runs, and 
proper food, and mix Pratts Poultry Food with the reg- 
ular feed. Give a good supply of greens and grit. 



DROPSY OF FEET. 

Due to a gouty or sluggish condition of the circula- 
tion. Cause : Congested liver, freezing of the feet, 
crowding with food and no exercise. Cure : Give plain 
food with Pratts Poultry Food, green vegetables, cut 
clover, and a dose or two of Castor Oil; 



DYSENTERY. 

Symptoms : Excessive diarrhea. Cause : Neglected 
diarrhea, filthy food or drinking water, and poor care. 
Spreads by means of the droppings. Cure : Put Pratts 
Roup Cure in drinking water. Feed lightly ; give one- 
third of mash of cut clover ; give Pratts Poultry Food, 
and lots of grit and bread soaked in scalded milk. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 85 

ECZEMA. 

Symptoms : White pimples on wattles, which spread 
and become crusted ; birds are listless, and lose appe- 
tite. Cause: Over-feeding of a highly nitrogenous 
ration, or from too close in-breeding. Cure : Give 
plenty of clover and green vegetables, but very little 
meat. Feed Pratts Poultry Food in mash, and one grain 
Calomel every night for a week. 



EdG BOUND. 

Cause : Overfat condition of entire system, which 
affects egg passage. Egg Bound causes death from 
heart disease. Egg Bound hens frequently lay dou- 
ble-yolk eggs. Symptoms : Tail feathers lowered, 
aimlessly moving about, frequently going to nest 
without laying. Cure : I<ong-continued cases hard to 
cure. If a simple case, with an oiled finger try to reach 
and break the egg, removing it all if possible. If beyond 
reach, give twenty drops of fluid extract of Ergot in 
warm water, and after an hour or so, steam the vent of 
bird over warm water. House alone and feed lightly, 
giving plenty of cut clover, Pratts Poultry Food and 
greens, but little fat-producing foods. 



86 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

ENEMIES. 

Lice — Nothing does more harm to poultry than lice, 
and no lice-infested poultry plant can succeed. Lice 
weaken the fowls and they quickly fall victims to dis- 
eases of various kinds. First of all, dust every fowl 
thoroughly with Pratts Powdered L,ice Killer, which is 
the surest and most effective powder for this purpose on 
the market, and will quickly kill and drive away all lice. 
Then thoroughly clean the house and spray the whole 
inside of the house with Pratts Liquid L,ice Killer. Be 
careful to reach every crack, nook and corner, especially 
the ends of the roosts where fastened to the house. 
Also spray the ground in the Run. Cleanliness, white- 
wash and Pratts Lice Killers will prevent lice. 
Pratts Powdered Lice Killer will also kill mites, fleas, 
ticks and gnats. Carefully examine the heads of little 
chicks and dust with Pratts Powdered Lice Killer — this 
will save many lives. 

Rats — Rats will destroy chicks by the hundred. 
Use traps of various kinds, continually scalding them. 
Rat poison should also be used, but care taken that it is 
kept away from the fowls. 

Mice — Should never be tolerated. Use traps and 
cats until they are exterminated. 

Cats — A good cat is a great benefit around a poul- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 87 

try plant ; but a bad one, the worst possible enemy of 
the place. Cats should be trained when young to let the 
chicks alone. Some cats cannot be taught, so must be 
sent away at once. 

Dogs — A well-trained dog is a valuable adjunct to a 
poultry plant ; but look out for stray dogs, which will 
destroy your chicks in short order. 

Weasels, Minks, Opossums, Foxes and Skunks all 
destroy chickens. Use traps and cover all entrances to 
poultry houses at night with a fine wire netting. 

Hawks — Guineas, if kept, will usually give the 
alarm. Traps set on a platform at the top of a pole near 
the yard will frequently catch them. 

Crows — Crows eat young chickens. Rig up a scare- 
crow, and fasten bright pieces of tin to strings attached 
to poles. 

Thieves — If thieves are prevalent in your neighbor- 
hood use electric alarms, and have a good watch dog. 



FROST BITES. 

The comb or wattles become purple or black. 
Bathe with compound Tincture of Benzoin, or apply 
twice a day an ointment of three tablespoonfuls of Vas- 
eline, one tablespoonful of Glycerine and one-half tea- 
spoonful of Turpentine. Thaw the comb out gradually. 



88 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

GAPES. 

Direct cause of death of thousands of young chicks. 
Due to irritation of the wind-pipe by parasites. These 
parasites are found in earth worms, in water and fre- 
quently are in the soil and litter of Runs. As soon as 
chicks are found to be infected, remove to other houses. 
There are many ways of removing the worms. Dip a 
soft wing feather in a solution of a few drops of Kero- 
sene in a tablespoonful of Sweet Oil, insert the feather in 
wind- pipe, turn it and withdraw. Some poultry-men 
give to the chicks a one-grain dose of Camphor daily, 
and put twenty drops of Turpentine in every quart of 
drinking water. One of the most satisfactory treatments 
for gapes is by the use of Iyime Dust. The chicks are 
shut into a barrel or box, so arranged as to allow inspec- 
tion during the process, and air-slacked L,ime is allowed 
to settle slowly through the air of the chamber. This is 
done by having part of the top of the box covered with 
bagging, so the dust can be admitted slowly and finely. 
The Ivime irritates the wind-pipe, and the chicks cough 
and sneeze, which brings up the worms. Care must be 
taken to limit the amount of Lime used, and a proper 
quantity of fresh air must be admitted. Too much 
L,ime and too little air will cause inflammation of mucous 
membrane. All worms should be burned. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 89 

GASTRITIS. 

Enlargement of the food passage just before it 
reaches the gizzard. Symptoms : L,oss of appetite, ruf- 
fled feathers, emaciation, constipation or diarrhea, and 
general weakness. Cause : Overfeeding, lack of grit, 
irritation from poison or pins, nails, etc. Cure : 
Give Castor Oil. Feed Pratts Poultry Food with bread 
and milk, give plenty of grass or vegetables, and have 
grit within easy reach. Put about twenty grains of 
Bicarbonate of Soda in one quart of drinking water, or 
one-tenth of a grain of Arsenite of Copper to a pint of 
drinking water. 



INDIGESTION. 

Affects entire digestive system. Cause : Lack of 
exercise, not enough green food, overfeeding, or badly- 
balanced ration. Cure : Have clean house, pure water, 
and feed a well-balanced ration at regular hours ; feed 
Pratts Poultry Food daily. 



INFLAMMATION OF EGG PASSAGE. 

Usually fatal. Symptoms : A continual straining, 
wings are dropped, ruffled feathers, and the vent is red 
and hot. Cause : Generally over-fat condition, too stim- 
ulating a ration, injury from breaking of egg^ or from 



90 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

irritation. Cure : Examine, and by use of oiled finger, 
find out if there is an egg or broken egg in passage, if 
so, gently remove it. Give one-half teaspoonful Sulphate 
of Magnesia in about a tablespoonful of warm water. 
Feed lightly, but give plenty of cut clover and greens, 
with Pratts Poultry Food. 



LEG WEAKNESS. 

Staggering gait, sitting down to eat, and flapping of 
wings while walking. Cause : Overfeeding, and a poorly 
balanced ration. Cure : Feed no corn or cornmeal, mix 
Pratts Poultry Food with mash, and give plenty of 
steamed cut clover. Rub legs with Tincture of Arnica 
or Pratts Veterinary Iyiniment, and put iron in drinking 
water. 



PASTING UP 

In little chicks ; caused by weakness or improper 
food. Cure : Soften mass with warm water and Sweet 
Oil, and remove ; anoint with Cosmoline. Give a dose 
of Olive Oil, then feed mash with plenty of bran, cut 
clover and Pratts Poultry Food in it. Give plenty of 
grass and put a little Iron in drinking water. 






PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 91 

PERITONITIS. 

Inflammation of membranes covering organs in 
abdomen. Usually caused by outside violence. Symp- 
toms : High fever, hot to the touch over the bowels, 
great weakness, falling on its side with legs drawn up. 
Cure : Peritonitis is usually fatal. One grain Opium 
pills, twice a day, will ease the bird. All food should 
be liquid. 

PIP. 

A drying and hardening at the end of the tongue. 
Cause : Stoppage of the nostrils, which compels the 
chick to breathe through the mouth. Paint tongue with 
Glycerine and remove the cause of the disease. Feed 
Pratts Poultry Food, and a careful ration, and the trouble 
will disappear. 



PNEUMONIA. 

Catarrhal inflammation of the lining of the air cells 
of the lungs. Symptoms : Panting for breath, dullness, 
loss of appetite and sluggishness. Cause : Colds, expos- 
ure, dampness and bad air. Cure : Disease is danger- 
ous and generally fatal. Place birds in a warm room, 
with good ventilation. Feed milk and beef juice, with 
bran, served warm. One drop Tincture of Aconite 



92 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

should be given every three hours. Have a pan of hot 
water in the room, in which place a teaspoonful of Pratts 
Liquid Lice Killer. 

RHEUMATISM. 

Symptoms : Swollen joints and contractions of the 
muscles. Cause : Too much meat being fed and expos- 
ure to cold and dampness. Cure : Dry sunny houses, 
plenty of green vegetables and cut clover. Give Pratts 
Poultry Food in mash. Rub joints with extract of Witch 
Hazel, Lard, Sweet Oil, or Pratts Veterinary Liniment. 



ROUP. 

An infectious disease of the air passages. Prevalent 
in late Fall and wet seasons. Symptoms : Discharges 
at mouth and nostrils, swelled head, offensive breath, 
difficult breathing, canker spots and exhaustion. Cause : 
Exposure to cold, dampness, filthy quarters or neglect. 
Cure : Treat as soon as first symptom is noticed. Mix 
one measureful of Pratts Roup Cure in one gallon of 
soft drinking water. Separate the sick chickens from 
the rest of the flock and do not let the diseased fowls 
have access to the regular drinking water. In case the 
fowl cannot see to drink, heat the water and bathe it 
with the solution. If taken in time, the fowl will be 
saved. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 93 

SCALY LEG. 

Contagious, A result of the irritation of a parasite. 
Cure : Rub with an ointment made of one ounce of Sul- 
phur and ten tablespoonfuls of Lard. 



THE ROUND WORM. 

Not dangerous except from the massing of large 
numbers. Symptoms : Comb and wattles are pale, the 
bird thin, and there may be slight diarrhea. Cure : Dis- 
solve in the water used for the mash two grains Santo- 
nine for each fowl to be treated, then mix Castor Oil 
with the mash, one-half teaspoonful for each bird. Col- 
lect droppings and remove them out of the reach of 
birds, or keep fowl from food for twenty-four hours ; 
then give each bird two- thirds of a teaspoonful of Areca 
Nut Powder. The next day, give one-half teaspoonful 
of Castor Oil. 

THE TAPE WORM. 

Only occasionally found in fowls. The fowl infected 
will have hearty appetite, yet appear thin and weak. 
Give the fowl six drops of Oil of Male Fern in one tea- 
spoonful of Castor Oil. Do this in the morning, and two 
or three hours later give a mash with one tablespoonful 
of Castor Oil in it to the bird. 



94 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 




VICES. 

Egg-Eating — Caused by fowls eating an egg that 
has been dropped and broken on the floor, or from eat- 
ing egg-shells that have not been crushed. Some fowls 
can never be cured, and had better be killed. If one is 
caught at it, separate at once, as the habit becomes con- 
tagious. One method of curing is to pare the horny 
beak of the fowl down to the quick and place some china 
eggs before it. Another method is to feed a large quan- 
tity of broken eggs at one time, which will sicken the 
fowl and cure the vice. 

Feather- Eating and Feather- Pulling — Caused by 
too closely confining the fowls and allowing them to be 
idle. Usually cured by giving plenty of exercise and a 
ration with a large quantity of greens, cut clover, beef 
scraps, animal meal, fresh bone and good sharp grit. 
L,et the chickens peck at a strip of salt pork hung in the 
hen-house. Treat fowl that has been plucked by rub- 
bing on skin Carbolated Vaseline. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



95 



Filthy feeding (eating the droppings, or other filth) 
causes bowel trouble, and can be prevented by having 
clean houses, Runs and troughs, and making the fowls 



exercise. 



VERTIGO. 

Symptoms : Staggering, slight convulsions, throw- 
ing up the head and back or to the side, or a rush of 
blood to the brain. Cause : Over-fed condition. Cure : 
Correct diet ; give abundance of green food. Feed 
Pratts Poultry Food and mix Pratts Roup Cure in the 
drinking water. 




CHAPTER XL 

BREEDING FOR EXHIBITION. 
ACCOMHODATIONS. 

Fancy breeding requires special preparation of 
quarters ; but any plan is good which sufficiently provides 
for separation of sexes and breeds, healthy and roomy 
Runs for the young chickens, careful housing and feed- 
ing, and close attention. 



96 PRATT3 POULTRY POINTERS 

SELECTION. 

Mere preservation of purity in a breed is not of so 
much, value as improvement. Marked features in any 
breed may be accentuated by careful breeding, on trie 
principle of selection, and special points may thus be 
developed as desired. Without careful selection, the 
distinctive points will gradually disappear. On the 
other hand, artificial selection, carried too far, and with 
only one point in view, will result in deterioration in 
other points. Crossing, therefore, becomes important. 



CROSSING. 

The purpose of crossing is the improvement of one 
breed by introducing the desirable characteristics of an- 
other. Thus any desired point, possessed in perfection by 
one breed, can be introduced into another by crossing, and 
by selection every other characteristic of the cross can be 
bred out again. There is practically no limit in improve- 
ment by means of strict selection and intelligent crossing. 



STOCK. 

It is useless to begin with poor stock. Get the best 
breeds at once, and if you have no friend whose experi- 
ence is a sure guide, study the subject thoroughly, and 
get the points fixed in your mind. Our descriptions will 
enable you to recognize the various breeds, and you can 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 97 

study them under your own eyes at the shows. In buying, 
trade only with regular dealers of established reputation. 
It is unnecessary to purchase both sexes from the same 
family ; but to buy both from one yard is of this advan- 
tage, that you avoid the risk of an erratic breeding, which 
is quite likely to result from a first cross. 



AGE. 

The ages of cock and hen should not be the same. 
A one-year-old cock, mated with hens a year older, will 
produce the strongest and best chickens ; but as the pro- 
portion of cocks produced is apt to be large in such cases, 
it is wiser to put a two-year-old cock with younger hens. 



INTERBREEDING. 

It will not do to breed continuousl y from members 
of the same family, nor yet to interbreed promiscuously 
in the same yard ; but if the families are kept strictly 
separate, they can be interbred successively for a number 
of years without calling in any other yard. The scien- 
tific plan is to record carefully the parentage of every 
bird, and keep the chickens of each family identified 
until needed. In the following year, the best specimens 
are selected for the breeding yards, with care that the 
cocks and hens are of different families ; and further, 
that two yards are thus made up without any close 



98 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

family connection between them. This will give a 
chance to mate unrelated birds in the next year, also, 
and so on. Another good plan is to send away one of 
the young cocks to some other yard or farm for a year. 
When he comes back he will be so remotely related to 
the new pullets that it will do no harm to mate him 
with them. When a new cock is brought in, let him be 
of undoubted pedigree, as well as a good specimen of 
his breed. 



MARKING. 

It is established that the cock has the most influence 
in marking the chickens as to colors, comb, and fancy 
points generally. He ought therefore to be chosen for 
these ; and while it is of course best to have a perfect 
bird, his want of size, if he is all right in other respects, 
will not be harmful, if he is mated with good hens ; but 
never choose a cock who is faulty in comb or plumage. 
For the same reason, avoid a small or ill-shaped hen, but 
do not discard her because of a few faulty feathers or an 
indifferent comb. As a general rule, cockerels resemble 
the father, and pullets the mother, more or less. If, 
therefore, it is desired to increase the size of a strain, 
cross with an outside hen ; and so if a better breast, or 
any change in shape, is desired ; but if a change in 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 99 

plumage is wanted, cross with an outside cock In 
breeding the cross out again, to form a new variety, 
observe the same rules. 



HAREM. 

If because of high prices, only three first-class 
birds can be afforded, it is wise to add to the harem say 
two or more hens of ordinary breeds, otherwise the birds 
will suffer from too much gallantry, and lose their 
feathers. Of course, the eggs should be so different as to 
be readily distinguishable. Four hens are enough for 
fine breeding, except in the case of Houdans and some 
others. Some breeders allow six. A hen must not be 
kept from sitting entirely ; but it is better to set a fancy- 
bred hen on duck's eggs than on her own, for when 
hatched the ducklings will soon be independent of their 
foster mother. 

HATCHING FOR EXHIBITION. 

With hardy breeds, set as soon after January as 
possible, to give plenty of time for growth before the 
shows. Give no hen more than seven or eight eggs. 
If six hatch, they are all she will be able to cover when 
they are grown to the age when they need her most. 
Delicate breeds, like Spanish or Dorkings, should not 



LtfC 



100 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

be hatched before April, unless the shelter is unusually 
good. For early eggs, mate the birds early in December, 
and do not change about, or the cock may turn sulky if 
deprived of a bird to which he has become attached. 
See that the cock is well fed, even if he has to be 
attended to separately. If very gallant, he will wait until 
his wives are satisfied before helping himself, and may 
thus get less than his share. 



REARING FOR EXHIBITION. 

Except in the case of Game and Bantams, size is 
very important in exhibiting. Therefore see to it that 
the chicks get enough. It is needless to advise the 
utmost care as to their warmth and health. The feeding 
should be frequent — every two hours is not too often ; 
but after a month, gradually reduce the number of meals, 
so that the rule at three months shall be four times a 
day. At ten weeks, weed out the poor birds, and sepa- 
rate the sexes. Do not let prize chickens roost until 
they are three months old, and then be sure that the 
perches are large and low. If there is no grass run, 
give plenty of green food. In "weeding out," do not 
save a bird unless it is really fine. Indifferent birds 
only crowd the yard and hinder the development of 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 101 

good ones. Do not fail to feed Pratts Poultry Food ; 
the result in cases like this will more than please you. 



BEFORE THE SHOW. 

When the birds are ready to exhibit, which will 
not be until they are six months old, such as are to be 
shown in the same pen should be placed in company at 
least ten days before the show, so as to get used to each 
other. An important point is the washing of the head 
and legs, after which they should go in a dry room well 
covered with clean straw, into which have been sprinkled 
a few handfuls of wheat. In scratching for the grains 
they get themselves perfectly clean. A little sulphate 
of iron dissolved in the drinking water will redden the 
combs, and add greatly to the appearance. Feed well 
and give plenty of fresh green food. Do not omit the 
steady use of Pratts Poultry Food. Birds of light color, 
or with a good deal of white in their plumage, will need 
to have their feathers washed, and where the bird is all 
white, a small quantity of wash blue in the water will 
heighten the effect. For the legs, use a stiffish brush ; 
for comb, a soft one. For the plumage, good yellow 
soap and a sponge are needed. The easiest way is to fill 
a tub or pan part full of warm water, and put the bird 



102 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

into it. All the soap must be rinsed out of the feathers, 
and a final rinse with cold water will keep the bird from 
catching cold. Dry off with a towel, and set the bird 
in a lined basket in front of a fire. Buckwheat and 
hempseed, fed for a week or two before the show, will 
add luster to the plumage. The comb may be further 
improved by rubbing in a little fresh butter and wiping 
it off thoroughly with a damp rag. 



SHIPPING HAMPERS. 

A round hamper is the safest. For Spanish or other 
large-combed breeds, stitch a piece of canvas over the 
top. In general, however, use a flat wicker top. In 
cold weather the hamper should be lined with canvas or 
straw stitched in. 



POINTS. 

These will be covered in our descriptions of the 
various breeds (see Part II). 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



103 




CHAPTER XII. 

WATER FOWLS, TURKEYS, GUINEAS, PIGEONS, AND 
PEA-FOWLS. 

DUCKS. 

Ducks can be made to pay, being hardy, easy to 
raise, and usually salable at good prices. Good ground 
is not essential, but a running stream of water is desir- 
able, although a pond will do. Some shelter is desirable, 
but it will not do to keep the ducks with hens, the 
former being comparatively uncleanly. They eat a 
good deal, but fatten rapidly on boiled rice, and are also 
good layers, their eggs always selling well, especially to 
confectioners. In the fall and winter they want a house, 
which need not be very large. One three feet high will 
serve. It should be kept dry and well ventilated. A 
shed is not necessary unless the house is very small. 
Cover the floor with clean straw, and use the same, with 
bricks, for nests. It is well to have a low railing around 
the yard, to keep the birds from laying outside, which 



104 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

they will do if let out too early in the morning. The 
wild duck, or Mallard, is supposed to be the progenitor 
of all the other breeds, of which we will describe seven 
varieties. 



RAISING DUCKS, 

as in raising chickens, the object to be secured must 
be considered. If breeding is the purpose, the drake 
should not be over two years old. If near that age, two 
ducks to one drake is the rule ; but if young and vigor- 
ous, two drakes may be given five ducks. The eggs 
may be hatched under large Brahma or Cochin hens, 
but must be kept moist. A dozen eggs are enough for 
one nest. If put into an incubator, it must not be with 
hens' eggs in the same hatcher, for ducks' eggs require 
more moisture, which is got by a daily sprinkling, and 
more air, with a longer-cooling time. Duck eggs usually 
take twenty-eight days to hatch, but may open a day or 
two before that. The ninth or tenth day is the best one 
for the first test, and the water test may be made on the 
twenty-fifth day. After the hatching, the ducklings may 
be treated much as chicks should be (see page 56). 
Unless you are raising for the table, do not feed too 
liberally, or with fattening food, but give bone-forming 
food. In raising for the table, flesh is the object, and 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 105 

must be considered in the feeding. For fattening, meal, 
boiled meat and greaves are given. Pratts Poultry 
Food must not be omitted in any case. 



AYLESBURY DUCKS. 

The Aylesbury is a very common form of duck. 
The plumage is entirely white. The bill is of a delicate 
pink or flesh color, and is well set into the full head, so 
as to form a line from the top of the head to the tip of 
the bill, which is very long. The neck also is long and 
fine ; body long, but broad, sometimes described as boat- 
shaped. The eyes are black, but very bright. The 
drake has one or two sharp curls in his tail. The legs 
are short and strong ; well-webbed claws ; color, orange 
or dark yellow. The drake weighs on an average seven 
pounds, a duck six ; but for show purposes nine pounds 
is the attempted weight. The delicate color of the bill 
is said to have been originally due to the fine white 
gravel found near Aylesbury, England, where these 
birds originated — constant shoveling of the bills into 
this gravel keeping the bills very clean. Other sorts 
of fine gravel may accomplish the same purpose ; but a 
bird which is being raised for a show must be kept out 
of the sun, which sqoii tans the bill. 



106 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

CAYUGA DUCKS. 

Cayuga Ducks are black all over, with lustrous 
green reflections, especially on head, neck and wings ; 
there is also a tinge of claret brown or bright purple on 
the back and wings. In the drake the green is stronger 
than in the duck, and his bill is greenish yellow, with 
black tip, while hers is black, tipped with greenish slate. 
The color of the bill, however, varies with the seasons. 
In shape it starts with a downward curve, and ends with 
an upward one. The legs are orange color, but of a 
dusky shade. 



CALL DUCKS. 

Call Ducks are named from the voice of the drake, 
which is like a low whistle. One variety has plumage 
like the Aylesbury, but with a yellow bill; another 
looks like the Rouen, which is described on page 97 ; the 
Call is, however, smaller than either. There is also a 
White Call, or decoy duck. All of these are too small 
to breed for the table, but are desirable as ornamental 
birds. 






PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



107 




PKKIN. 



AYLESBURY DRAKE. 



PEKIN. 



EAST INDIAN DUCKS. 

The East Indian Duck is also known as the Buenos 
Ayres Black Duck. Their color is black, with rich 
green luster. They mate in pairs. The flesh is delici- 
ous, but the bird is small, and when shown weighs not 
more than four or five pounds. 



MUSCOVY DUCKS. 

The Muscovy, or Musk Duck, sometimes called the 
Peruvian, has a noticeable musky odor. There is a 
great disproportion between the drake and the duck, the 
former weighing up to ten pounds, the latter not going 
over six. There are several varieties of plumage — 
white, black, blue and mottled. The face is bare, with 
fleshy bunches at the base of the bill and around the 
eyes. The drake is very fierce. The ducks are good 
layers, and the flesh is plenty and good. 



108 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

PEKIN DUCKS. 

The Pekin is comparatively a new comer, having 
first been heard of in 1873. The shape is like that of a 
canoe, high at bow and stern ; plumage, white ; legs 
short, set ^very far back, and colored deep yellow or 
reddish-orange, which is also the color of the bill ; head 
large ; neck long. This bird is hardy ; best of all for 
laying ; grows fast ; the eggs are usually fertile, and the 
breed crosses well with the Aylesbury. The position of 
the legs gives the bird an upright walk much like that 
of the Penguin. The standard weight for drake is 
eight pounds ; duck, seven pounds. 



ROUEN DUCKS. 

The Rouen Duck is very handsome, resembling the 
wild duck in plumage, but of larger size, weighing 
sometimes eight or nine pounds, and the flesh is excel- 
lent. The drake is of a stately appearance, with a fine, 
long bill, Aylesbury shape, and in color yellow with a 
greenish tinge, and a jet black bean at the tip. His head 
is green, with purple gloss extending down the neck, 
which is nearly encircled with a ring of pure white. 
The breast is a rich brown, the body gray, whitening at 
the tail. The back is green-black, and the curling tail 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 109 

feathers, dark green. Wings, gray-brown, with purple 
and white ribbon mark ; flight feathers, gray and brown ; 
legs, orange. The duck has a shorter bill, colored orange- 
brown, yellowing at the edges, and with a nearly black 
mark appearing towards the end ; her head is dark 
brown, with light brown lines on each side of the face ; 
breast dark brown penciled on light brown ground ; on 
the back the pencilings are black or brown ; wing also 
penciled black and gray on the shoulder ; flight feathers 
gray, with ribbon mark. The Rouen is hardy and pro- 
lific, and if the ducklings are looked after for the first 
ten days, and only allowed a short swim each day until 
their feathers come, they can be reared without difficulty. 



OTHER VARIETIES OF DUCKS. 

Mandarin, Carolina, Spotted Bill, Whistler, Pintail 
and Kasarka Ducks are also to be had when great 
variety is wanted, but we will not take space to describe 
them. 

GEESE. 

Geese are easy to raise, and are an actual benefit to 
the land, if put on after the grain is gathered ; cost 
little to keep, and sell well. To make a business of goose 
raising, however, requires a pond of reasonably good 



110 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

size, as well as plenty of pasturage, The geese should 
have a house to themselves, apart from the other fowls ; 
well supplied with clean straw for making nests. The 
house should be easy to get in and out of. For setting, 
collect the eggs and keep them in bran, or in a rack, 
until the geese are ready to sit. Three or four geese to 
one gander is the rule. Geese ought to be set early, as 
the hot weather is trying on the little ones. The time 
of incubation is from thirty to thirty-four days. The 
mother should have plenty of food and be sent on the 
pond daily, as moisture is important for the eggs. There 
is little difference in the raising of geese from the rules 
given for chickens. They are usually fattened for the 
market, and before killing should be put into the pond 
so as to clean the feathers, and afterwards put on clean 
straw, fasting for a day before being dispatched. We 
describe two varieties, the Gray or Toulouse, and the 
White or Hmbden, which are the principal ones. Afri- 
can, Canadian, Chinese and Egyptian are the others. 



GRAY OR TOULOUSE GEESE. 

This breed is larger and handsomer than the white 
goose, and pays better to raise. The color is brown, with 
white on the under parts and tail coverts. The bill is 
orange-red in color ; forehead, flat. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. Ill 

WHITE OR EMBDEN GEESE. 

The bird is pure white all over. It has a bright 
blue eye ; the bill is flesh color. This goose is said to 
lay better than the gray, as well as earlier. 



SWANS. 

The Swan is, of course, a fancy fowl entirely, 
although the flesh of the cygnet is very good. The 
female lays from seven to nine eggs late in the winter, 
out of which five is a good hatch. The old birds 
forage for themselves, but will need some grain in the 
winter time. The cygnets can be fed by throwing meal 
on the water. Swans are ill-tempered birds, especially 
in the breeding season, and are best left pretty much 
to themselves. 



VARIETIES OF SWANS. 



There are three principal varieties of swans: the 
English White or Mute Swan ; the Australian or Black 
Swan — both of which are sufficiently described by their 
names — and the Chili or Peruvian Swan, which has a 



112 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

black head and neck, with a white body. The White is 
the largest of the three. Swans are very long lived, 
and it is asserted that some have lasted a whole century. 



TURKEYS. 



Turkey chicks die so easily that it is a serious 
question whether they can be made to pay. But if they 
can be got through the first two months, or until they 
show or " shoot the red" on the neck and throat, they 
are from that time very hardy. Before that, wet or cold 
weather is fatal, unless the strictest care is observed. 
Dry soil is, therefore, one essential to success, and plenty 
of good shelter. One cock will take care of a whole 
yardful of hens, but it is best to limit him to a dozen, 
if chicks are to be raised. The hen usually lays about 
eighteen eggs, but if the first seven are given to a 
common hen, the turkey hen will have enough to take 
care of with the rest of her laying. The cock must be 
kept away from the nest, as he has a habit of destroying 
the eggs. The time of incubation is from twenty-six to 
twenty-nine days. The hen ought to be well fed, and 
supplied with food and water where she can reach it, 
just before the hatching is due, and must then be let 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 113 

alone until it is over. A good way to teach the stupid 
chicks how to feed is to put one or two ordinary hen's 
eggs under the mother about five days after the hen has 
been set, and the chicks, thus hatching at the same time 
with the young turkeys, will soon by example teach them 
how to feed. They should never be forced to eat, and 
should not be given anything which will induce diarrhoea. 

Young turkeys are subject to two special dangers : 
(i) a peculiar susceptibility to wet and (in less degree) 
to cold, and (2) a great liability to diarrhoea. For the 
first week the young bird should have little beyond hard- 
boiled egg^ minced up with dandelion leaves and a small 
quantity of Pratts Poultry Food ; a little bread crumb 
may be added. All through, dandelion leaves make far 
the best green food; but if they cannot be had, boiled 
onions, chopped fine, are the next best. As they get 
older, they are fed on good barley meal or oat meal, 
and may also have almost ad libitum fresh curd 
squeezed dry from the whey ; but buttermilk is about as 
likely to cause trouble as anything can be. 

The egg and Pratts Poultry Food for a week are of 
very great importance to prevent a slight tendency to 
diarrhoea from the first, which often sets in, and gets 
worse, and carries them off later on. While young 
turkeys require the utmost care when very young, 



114 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

and should be confined for a while, let it be known that 
they will not thrive unless they have the benefit of a 
range as they become larger. They are active foragers, 
and must have a chance to exercise that peculiarity ; but 
in so doing they will pick up the greater part of their 
food. Those who grow tobacco should always keep a 
flock of turkeys, as they are very destructive to the 
large green worms that do so much damage to that crop. 
If allowed a range, and fed on grain at night, they can 
easily be taught to come up at regular hours. 

Turkeys keep growing until they are three or four 
years old ; but can be used for breeding when they are 
two years old. There are six principal varieties of tur- 
keys : White, Black, Bronze, Buff, Slate and Narragan- 
sett. The heaviest of them is the American Bronze, 
which is known to have reached thirty-two pounds, and 
the hen twenty-two. Turkeys are of great use in a 
vineyard, where they are active and vigilant in destroy- 
ing bugs and worms. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



115 




GUINEA FOWLS. 

The Guinea is very troublesome on account of its 
wandering habits, and it is impossible to start a brood 
except by setting the eggs under a common hen. Even 
then they must, in rearing, have a regular night meal to 
keep them at home ; and they will not roost in a house, 
but prefer trees. They mate in pairs, and the hen is so 
shy that she must not be disturbed, or she will forsake 
her nest and make another where it cannot be found. 
The period of incubation is about the same as in the case 
of the turkey, and the chicks will want just about the 
same care, requiring also to be fed soon after hatching, 
and very frequently, and have plenty of animal food. 
The flesh is delicious, and in size the bird is about as 
large as a Dorking. No attempt should be made to 
fatten it for the table, as the flavor would thus be 
injured very materially. 



116 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

PIGEONS. 

We shall not attempt to go into a description of the 
various breeds of pigeons, as that would require a book 
by itself; but there are several reasons why the farmer 
should keep pigeons — the common pigeons — as many as 
he can get. Usually, they may be obtained for little 
or nothing. Nail up a codfish where the pigeons can 
strip it, or better, mix a little cummin seed, old mortar 
and a little salt, the whole kept moist ; and if nesting 
places be provided, a little grain scattered, the pigeons 
will remain. Pigeons around a place give life and in- 
terest, and add something of beauty to the u domestic 
scene. ' ' And they are useful. In the fall they gather 
countless seeds from weeds, and every seed thus disposed 
of may make one weed less the next season. If the 
crop of a pigeon be opened in the fall this statement 
may be verified. 

It is true that pigeons go into grain fields, but what 
for ? Not to take the standing grain. Only to gather 
the shelled grain that would be lost if the birds did not 
get it. There is no fertilizer better than pigeon dung ; 
indeed, for some crops, nothing can equal it. And 
pigeon pie is a good dish. And squabs, taken about 
the time they are ready to leave the nest, are they not 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 117 

as rich as anything that flies? Many a farmer's boy 
owes his skates, his sled, and a great many other things 
to the squabs he found in the barn, and sold for a "good 
bit of money." The cost of keeping is not worth 
reckoning ; they "pick up" nearly all they have on many 
farms, except perhaps in midwinter, and yet they stay. 
When the bottom of a hay mow is reached let the 
pigeons have the seeds collected there. Better that the 
pigeons eat them than that they go into the manure to 
spring up in the cornfield next season. There is pleasure 
and profit in keeping pigeons, or in providing a place 
for them, as they will nearly keep themselves. 



PEA-FOWLS. 

The Pea-fowl is a striking bird, familiar in appear- 
ance to every one from its kingly crest and magnificent 
spread of tail, which, by the way, is not a true tail, but 
a development of the tail coverts or side feathers. They 
are wild in their habits, and the hen hides her nest, lay- 
ing from five to nine eggs usually, but sometimes more. 
The incubation period corresponds with that of the 
turkey nearly, being twenty eight to thirty days. The 
hen cares for her brood until they are six months old, 
and they want especial protection, with animal food. 



118 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 



While this bird is ornamental entirely, its flesh when not 
over a year old is very good. One cock will look after 
three hens. Besides the ordinary variety, there are the 
White, the Pied, the Javan and the Black-Winged. The 
most interesting of these is the Javan, which is much 
larger than the common variety, and sheds his long tail 
at the close of the breeding season, appearing at other 
times with a green tail with gold reflections, very hand- 
somely barred with whitish brown. He has a very high 
crest, is blue around the eyes, and his neck feathers 
look like scales. 




PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



119 




PART II 



DESCRIPTIONS OK BREEDS, 



For a better understanding of the different breeds, 
the Pratt Food Co. publishes several official charts of 
fowls, correctly illustrated as to feathering, coloring, etc. 
See coupons in every package of Pratts Food. 

ANCONAS 

Are similar in size and shape to the Leghorns. These 
are fairly good layers of medium size eggs. The color 
of plumage is black and white, evenly mottled. Shanks 

and toes yellow. 

ANDALUSIANS. 
The hardiest of the Spanish breeds ; very useful 
and handsome. Sometimes known as Blue Spanish, by 
reason of the color, which is slate-blue, laced in some 
cases with a darker shade. The male bird's plumage is 
dark blue, or nearly black, on the neck and back. The 



120 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

face is bright red ; the ears, white, The body is small 
and compact ; the legs, clean and longish ; head fine, 
with long neck ; comb large, upright and single, falling 
to one side in the case of the hen. Tail feathers and 
neck hackles very dark blue, almost black. The most 
troublesome faults are feathers of other colors among the 
slate. Andalusians are good layers and non-sitters. 
The eggs are large and white. The birds make a good 
table fowl when young. They are hardy and thrive on 
dry soil. Select for size and erect carriage. 



BANTAHS. 

Bantams exist in great variety, and are artificial 
birds entirely. Their beauty is their chief value. They 
are useful, however, in the garden, to keep down slugs 
and insects. Their eggs are tempting to invalids, and 
may be easily cooked by pouring boiling water over 
them. Bantam chicks need more animal food than other 
breeds, and should be kept dry, with extra care during 
the first fortnight. In general, feed scantily to keep 

down the size. 

GAME BANTAflS. 

The hardiest breed of Bantams. Points exactly the 
same as in Game fowls, from which they originated. 
Very courageous and strong. Varieties are Birchen, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 121 

Black, Black-Breasted Red, Brown-Red, Golden Duck- 
Wing, Red Pyle, Silver Duck- Wing and White. 



JAPANESE BANTAMS. 

The Japanese Bantam proper has a single and up- 
right bright red comb ; short body ; clean, short legs ; 
upright or squirrel tail. The varieties are : Black- 
Tailed, White and Black. 



COCHIN BANTAMS. 

This is a very rare and remarkable breed, deriving 
its name from the fact that the first pair was stolen from 
the summer palace at Pekin. The Buff Pekin is an 
exact copy in miniature of the Buff Cochin fowl, for 
description of which see page 127. The other varieties 
are Partridge, White and Black. 



SEBRIGHT BANTAH. 

The plumage of the Sebright Bantam is very com- 
pact, and every feather is laced all around the edge with 
black. The comb is a rose of bright red, with spike 
behind, pointing upwards. Face, red ; eye, bay color ; 
ear, white or bluish white ; shanks, blue. The cock is 
a fighter and full of conceit — throwing his head back 
nearly to his tail, drooping his wings half-way down his 



122 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

legs, and fidgeting about as if always spoiling for a quar- 
rel. In the Golden Sebright the ground color of the 
feathers is a rich golden yellow ; in the silver Sebright 
the ground is pure silvery white. The lacing, in both 
cases, is clear black. 



BLACK AND WHITE BANTAMS. 

In the Black Bantam the plumage is perfectly black 
and lustrous. In appearance the bird is simply a diminu- 
tive Black Hamburgh, with a full and well-arched tail ; 
short, clean legs, colored black or blue ; bright red rose 
comb ; face, red ; ears, white. 

The White Bantam is like the Black in all points 
except the color of the plumage, which, instead of being 
black, is pure white. Red ear lobes are preferable to 
white, setting off the spotless white of the feathers to 
great advantage. 

BRAHMA BANTAHS 

Are of two varieties, Light and Dark and Polish Ban- 
tams, White-Crested White and Buff Laced. 



BRAHJIAS. 

This is a favorite breed of Asiatic origin, and full 
of merit. The principal peculiarity is the comb, which 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 123 

looks like three combs laid side by side, the middle one 
being considerably the tallest. Each of the three should 
be straight and regular ; and the triple comb is just as 
apparent in the hen, although smaller than in the case 
of the cock. The neck hackle of the cock is very full, 
and flows gracefully over the shoulders, which are flat 
and wide. The saddle rises higher, merging into the 
tail, which is nearly upright, and spreads considerably. 
The breast is full and deep. The plumage is not so 
fluffy as that of the Cochin, and the bird has a squarish 
appearance. As to leg feathers, see the description of 
Cochins, which will apply also to Brahmas in this respect. 
The size is very much the same ; but some Brahmas 
have been known to weigh seventeen or eighteen pounds. 



LIGHT BRAHMAS. 



The ruling color in L,ight Brahmas is white, but, in 
the case of the cock, the hackle is striped plainly with 
black. The leg feathers are white, mixed with black or 
gray, and the tail feathers are black. The hen has a 
white fluff ; but she is marked black on the hackle and 
between the shoulders. 



124 PRATTS POUI/TRY POINTERS. 

DARK BRAHMAS. 

The head of the Dark Brahma cock is white ; the 
hackle is also white, striped with black. Back, white, 
marked with black between the shoulders ; saddle, white, 
with black stripes ; breast, fluff, and underparts deep 
black ; tail coverts fill up gradually with green-black 
as they near the tail, which is green-black with a fine 
gloss. The wings are white on the shoulders, with 
traces of black ; the coverts cross the wing in the shape 
of a bar of glossy green-black. • Nothing but clear white 
or dense black is found in the perfect bird. In the hen 
we find white and black-penciled hackles. The other 
plumage is light iron gray, with dark pencilings. The 
breast is penciled like the back, likewise the leg feathers 
and the fluff. 



BRAHMAS FOR BREEDING. 

Birds for breeding must be chosen with especial 
reference to the points which are sought to be brought 
out in the strain. The cock must have a perfectly 
black breast. All the under parts must be dense, and 
the hackles pure in color. The hackles of the hen 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 125 

should be sharply and darkly striped. In breeding for 
pullets, let the hen have dark hackles, feathers well pen- 
ciled and not streaky; choose a cock bred from just that 
sort of a hen. He must have broad, well-marked black 
stripes in neck and saddle hackles, and will not be hurt 
by a white spot on end of breast feathers, or a whitish 
edging to the fluff, as is often found. In both breeds of 
Brahmas ear lobes are large and red, falling below wat- 
tles ; head and beak short ; expression, lively ; legs 
yellow, the tint being towards orange in the dark breed. 



QUALITIES OF BRAHMAS. 

Brahmas are paying fowls. They lay wonderfully, 
are good sitters and mothers, are docile, thrive on any 
soil except a very wet one, do not need large Runs, and 
will not fly a three-foot fence. The flesh is good, and is 
deep on the breast. The pure breed is not very desir- 
able on the table if over six months old ; but crossing 
with the Houdan, Crevecceur, or Dorking, will pro- 
duce large, hardy birds, and an abundance of good flesh. 



BUFF ORPINGTONS. 

An English breed, fine as table birds and good layers. 
They are deep-bodied, full heavy-breasted, with short, 
heavy thighs. Skin is white. Cocks weigh ten and 
one-half pounds and the hens eight and one-half pounds. 



126 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

COCHINS OR SHANGHAIS. 

The Cochin, which is also an Asiatic bird, has a 
remarkable history. The birds first appeared in England 
about 1847, an ^ a t once attracted great attention. In 
fact, they became a perfect craze, and the prices paid 
were enormous. Cochins were presumed to be perfect 
in all respects ; but a better acquaintance with them, and 
perhaps the natural effect of such extraordinary first 
favor, has caused them to lose repute. 



SHOW COCHINS. 

Weight, eleven pounds for the cock ; eight and one- 
half for the hen ; neck, short ; hackle flows wide over 
a very short and broad back, rising abruptly into a broad 
saddle, in the case of the cock, and a full cushion in 
the hen, in which her tail is almost buried. In fact, it 
looks as if there were no back at all. Body, short and 
deep ; legs very short, and set wide ; breast, broad and 
full ; shanks feathered down the outside to the ends of 
the toes ; thighs well covered with soft fluff ; tail, small 
and low ; head, small and neat ; comb, single, small and 
regular ; ear lobes, red ; bay or dark red eyes, general 
appearance lumpy. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 127 

BUFF COCHINS. 

Buff Cochins range in color from very pale buff to 
dark cinnamon. The plumage should be uniform 
always ; but in the cock the tail is darkest, with per- 
haps a little black in it. Legs, yellow or with a tinge 
of red. 



PARTRIDGE COCHINS. 



In the case of cock Partridge, the breast and under 
parts are black ; the head, hackle and saddle, orange-red, 
with black stripes ; tail, black ; wings, red and bay, 
barred across the middle with bright green-black. In 
the hens, the hackle is also orange striped, but the other 
plumage is a light brown ground with dark brown pen- 
d lings ; legs, dark yellow. 



WHITE AND BLACK COCHINS. 

White Cochins are perfect only when every feather 
is pure white, and the shanks clear yellow. Black 
Cochins are uniformly black % including the legs. 



128 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

QUALITIES OF COCHINS. 

Some condemn Cochins utterly, except for the pur- 
poses of exhibition ; but they are good layers, and are 
noted sitters, although they are too often broody when 
they ought to be caring for their chicks. They are 
hardy and easily raised, and make reasonably good 
eating when young. They fatten quickly, and must not 
be overfed. They are not much of a table fowl, unless 
crossed with the Dorking or Crevecceur. 



CREVECCEUR. 

This well-known fowl is of French origin. It is 
very ?hort in the legs, especially the hen. The cock 
averages seven and one-half to eight pounds in weight, 
but has been known to reach ten. These birds are very 
quiet, and bear confinement contentedly. They are full 
and compact in form ; comb, in shape of two horns, and 
a crest red in color ; throat, bearded and whiskered ; 
plumage, black ; legs, black and clean ; face, red. The 
eggs are large, and the flesh of the fowl exceedingly fine. 
These birds are delicate, but will thrive if given plenty 
of run. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 129 

DOMINIQUE OR AMERICAN ROSE COMB. 

The Dominique has a distinctive plumage, which is 
known as " Dominique,' ' or cuckoo color. It consists of 
a dark blue-gray banding on a light gray ground. The 
legs are yellow, and the comb is a rose. The bird is 
hardy, doing well on all soils, and making a very good 
table fowl. The hens are good layers, sitters and 
mothers. 



DORKINGS. 

The Dorking is an English bird, and a great favorite 
at its home. It has a deep, full body, with plump, pro- 
truding breast, especially in the cock ; back and breast, 
broad ; general appearance, square and plump, but com- 
pact ; legs, white, or with slight rosy tinge ; there is a 
double or fifth toe, the spur turning upward. Wattles, 
large and pendent ; short, taper neck ; full hackle. 



COLORED DORKINGS. 

The Colored Dorking weighs considerably more 
than the other varieties. The color is various, the 
cock's breast being in some cases black and in others 
speckled, with color on the back and sides, and hackles 



130 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

lighter or darker. The hen is brown or black, speckled 
with gray, or a darker color. The comb may be either 
single or double. When single, it is large and perfectly 
erect. 

WHITE DORKINGS. 

White Dorkings are usually smaller than the colored. 
The plumage is pure white, although in the cock there 
is a tendency to cream or straw color on back and wings. 
The comb is a double or rose comb, broad in front and 
raised to a point behind. White Dorkings look smaller 
than they really are, and in fact weigh more than a 
Silver Gray of apparently larger size. 



SILVER-GRAY DORKINGS. 

In the Silver Gray the cock's breast is pure black ; 
tail and larger coverts black, with metallic luster ; head, 
hackle, back and saddle, silvery white ; wing, white, 
barred with black across the middle. The hen has a 
salmon-red breast, shading off to gray at the thighs ; 
head and neck, silvery gray with black stripes ; wings, 
gray ; tail, dark gray, shading into dark brown or black 
inside ; back, silver gray, or light gray. This bird is 
very handsome, and has a clean and high-bred ap- 
pearance. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 131 

QUALITIES OF DORKINGS. 

As a table fowl the Dorking is unsurpassed. The 
meat is fine and abundant, especially on the breast and 
wings. The hen is a good sitter and mother, but not 
much of a layer, except when young. The breed is 
delicate, and needs dry ground and unlimited range. 
Dorkings should not be hatched too early, as damp and 
cold weather is dangerous to the chicks. 



GAME. 

Game fowls have changed in appearance since the 
days when they were bred for fighting purposes. As at 
present recognized the head of the cock has a snaky 
appearance, with a long but strong bill, prominent eyes, 
and fine, smooth red skin. The ears are red ; the neck, 
long ; hackles, very short, without spread ; the back, 
flat and wide, narrowing gradually towards the tail ; 
breast, broad and full ; stern, narrow and well held up ; 
the tail is a " whip," being narrow and short ; wings, 
large and strong; legs and. thighs, long; shanks, firmly 
set and cleaned scaled ; toes, flat on the ground, and 
spurs low ; the body feels hard to the touch. The hen 
may be described in pretty much the same language. 



132 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

BLACK-BREASTED RED GAME. 

In the Black-Breasted Reds the cock is described 
thus : Neck hackle, bright orange ; saddle, about the 
same ; back, red ; breast, thighs and under parts, deep 
black ; tail and wing bar, black. In the hen the hackle 
is gold, with black stripes ; breast, reddish fawn or sal- 
mon red, lightening to gray on the thighs ; wings, back 
and upper tail feathers, brown, with fine partridge 
marks ; legs of both cock and hen are olive or willow 
color, and the eyes are bright red. 



DUCKWING GAME. 

In the Golden Duckwing the face of the cock is red 
and the head white, but lower down the hackle runs to a 
straw color. The saddle is also straw color or yellow ; the 
wing bow, shoulder coverts and back, are a light orange 
or gold ; a blue-back bar crosses the wing ; the breast, 
tail and under parts are black. In the hen the head is 
silver gray, and the hackle is the same, with black 
stripes ; the breast is salmon color, lightening to gray on 
the thighs ; other plumage, dark gray, penciled over sil- 
ver gray, giving a silvery or frosted effect. Legs in both, 
willow ; eyes, red and bright. The Silver Duckwing is 
very similar, substituting silvery white for the straw 
color in the cock, and lighter shades in the hen, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 133 

BROWN-RED GAIIE. 

Brown-Reds have a glossy green-black for a general 
color ; on the breast each feather is laced with lemon or 
gold ; hackles, lemon color with black stripes ; back and 
shoulder coverts, lemon ; legs of both sexes, very dark 
willow ; eyes, dark brown ; faces, deep purple. 



PYLE GAME. 

Pyle Game is like Black-Breasted Red, reading 
white instead of black in the description on page 132. 
Legs, yellow or light willow. Other Games are Birchen, 
White and Black. 

ORIENTAL GAMES 

Are White and Cornish Indian Games, Black-Breasted 
Red, Malay and Black Sumatra. 



QUALITIES OF GAIIE. 

Game fowls are not noted as layers, except the Black- 
Reds, and the eggs are small. They are good sitters and 
mothers, and the flesh is fine. Crossed with Dorkings, 
the result is a very satisfactory table fowl. Being so fond 
of fighting, it is the custom to dubb the cocks — that is, 
cut off their comb and wattles close to the head — when 
they are about six months old, otherwise they will pun- 
ish each other severely before they can be separated. 



134 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

HAMBURGHS. 

Ham burghs are small in size ; have handsome 
plumage ; brilliant rose comb, square in front, with up- 
right spike behind ; bright red face and blue legs. 



SILVER-PENCILED HAMBURGHS. 

Silver-Penciled Hamburghs are small but graceful, 
the cock especially carrying himself very vainly, bear- 
ing his tail high, with a pretty curve ; comb, full of 
points, and no hollow in center ; ears, white. Pure white 
is the predominating color ; but the cock's tail is black, 
with green glossing ; side and sickle feathers, black, 
sharply edged with white ; wing coverts sometimes 
marked with black, with a faint narrow bar across the 
wing, which is edged with black. The hen's hackle is 
pure white, the rest of the body white, with each feather 
penciled across with bars of black ; tail feathers penciled 
in same way. 

GOLD-PENCILED HAMBURGHS. 

Same as Silver-Penciled, except that the ground 
color is not white, but golden bay. Cock's tail, black, 
with a bronze edging on sickle and side feathers, or 
bronzed all over. 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 135 

GOLD AND SILVER-SPANGLED HAMBURGHS. 

The distinctive marking of the Spangled Ham- 
burghs consists of a black spangle or moon at the end of 
each feather. In the Gold-Spangled the ground color is 
golden bay ; hackle feathers, streaked with greenish 
black ; tail, black ; spangles, large and regular. The 
cock has two bars of regular spots across the wing. 

In the Silver- Spangled Hamburgh the ground color 
is silvery white, and the tail differs from the Golden in 
the hen, being silver white with black moons at the tips. 
In both sexes the spangles on the wing covert feathers 
form two regular black bars across the wings. 



WHITE AND BLACK HAMBURGHS. 

The White Hamburgh is pure white, and the Black 
Hamburgh glossy black all over. They are apt to be 
larger than the other varieties. They have the charac- 
teristic rose comb, blue or lead-colored legs, and bright 
red face common to all Hamburghs. 



QUALITIES OF HAMBURGHS. 

Hamburghs are non-sitters, but good layers, except 
the Gold-Spangled. They are very erratic and seek a 



136 PRATTS POUI/TRY POINTERS 

wide range, flying almost any height fence. Eggs, 
large, especially in the case of the black variety ; flesh, 
good, but scant, by reason of the small size of the bird. 

HOUDANS. 

Houdans are a French breed, but are very much like 
Dorkings, with large and compact body, shortish legs, and 
fifth toe. The bones are, however, smaller. Plumage is 
mixed or speckled black and white. Wattles nearly con- 
cealed by whiskers ; comb, very distinctive, looking like 
two parted book leaves, with a feathered crest behind it. 



QUALITIES OF HOUDANS. 

Houdans are hardy and lay well. Very fine as a 

table fowl. Eggs very likely to be fertile from the great 
activity of the cock, who requires a well-stocked harem. 



JAVAS. 

Javas are similar in size and other respects to Ply- 
mouth Rocks. The cocks weigh nine and one-half 
pounds and hens seven and one-half pounds. The 
varieties are Black and Mottled. 



LA FLECHE. 

Another French breed, but resembling the Spanish* 

The body and legs are large and long, the plumage 
close laid and dense, legs slate color, plumage black with 
green reflections, comb two-horned, like the Crevecceur, 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 137 

with two small points also in front of the nostrils, 
and bright red in color. Wattles are also bright red, and 
hang down very long ; ear lobes dead white and very 
large, sometimes meeting under the throat ; carriage 
bold and smart. 

QUALITIES OF LA FLECHE. 

The La Fleche is a good layer, with eggs large and 
white, and a non-sitter ; flesh fine and white, except that 
the legs are dark. Capons and ponlardes are produced 
from this breed in France. 



LANQSHANS. 

L,angshans are a Chinese importation, and are sup- 
posed to be related to or derived from Cochins, although 
this has been denied. Langshans are large birds, with 
long legs feathered, tail well furnished and carried high, 
scanty fluff, breast full and prominent and good outline, 
plumage close and glossy. The varieties are Black and 
White. 

QUALITIES OF LANQSHANS. 

L,angshans are good on the table and the hens lay 
well, but are not greatly disposed to sit. They make 
good mothers, however, and the fowl is hardy and easily 
raised. 



138 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

LEGHORNS. 

Leghorns are somewhat small in body, but very 
compact, and of sprightly and pleasing appearance. 
They have single combs, quite large, deeply toothed, 
and running down over the back of the head. The rose 
comb is also seen in the brown and white varieties. 
The wattles are long and pendent ; ear lobes, white ; 
beak, yellow; legs, same color, and clean; hackles, full- 
tail of cock, sweeping. The hen's comb falls in a single 
fold to one side. 



WHITE LEGHORNS. 

In the White Leghorn the legs are bright yellow ; 
the face red, and the plumage entirely white ; comb, 
either rose or single. Brown Leghorns are much like 
the white in shape and size, but are plumper. 



BROWN LEGHORNS, 

The hackles of the cock are golden bay with black 
stripings ; the back is red with a stripe of brighter bay 
on each feather ; the breast is black and full ; wings, 
dark red, barred with bay and green black ; tail, black 
and quite long. The hen has a light brown breast ; 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 139 

yellow neck hackle, striped with brown ; back, brown 
and slightly penciled. 



BLACK LEGHORN. 

There is also a Black Leghorn, in which the plum- 
age is black ; the beak and legs are, of course, dark. 
The other varieties are Buff and Silver Duck- Wing. 



QUALITIES OF LEGHORNS. 

L,eghorns are astonishingly good layers, especially 
the Whites, and the eggs are of good size. They are 
hardy and precocious, laying and breeding very early. 
As a table bird they are not notable. 



MALAYS. 

Malays are of Asiatic breed, but are very different 
from Cochins. They stand up very straight, and are 
very long in the neck and legs. The wings protrude at 
the shoulders, and are carried high. The body narrows 
towards the tail, which is small, and that of the cock 
droops. Viewed in profile, the neck, back and tail make 
up three convex curves, descending at an angle. Shanks 
and thighs are very large. The feathers are narrow and 
glossy, and sit very close. The coloring varies, white 



140 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 

being found, but the most usual being like the Black- 
Breasted Red Game. The beak is long and hooked, head 
also long ; comb, lumpy ; wattles small, with small deaf 
ears; eyes, white or yellow ; overhanging eyebrows; head 
and throat snaky looking ; legs, yellow and clean, with 
very large scales. 

QUALITIES OF MALAYS. 

Malays need plenty of run and vegetable food, as 
they are addicted to feather eating. They are hardy 
when grown, but delicate as chicks. They make a good 
table fowl, in spite of their scrawny appearance, and 
cross well with Dorking, Spanish or English Game. 
They do not lay well, and are exceedingly quarrelsome 
and ferocious, especially in confinement. 



MINORCAS— BLACK AND WHITE. 

Minorcas are sometimes called Red-Faced Spanish, 
and are, in looks, very much like the Black Spanish, 
but with red faces, larger comb and shorter legs. They 
also resemble the L,eghorns, but have a larger comb. 
There are White and Black Minorcas, but the latter are 
most frequently seen. The plumage is metallic black 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS. 141 

and very handsome. They are larger than the White- 
Faced Spanish, and the cock will weigh eight or nine 
pounds. The ear lobes are white, the legs clean. 



QUALITIES OF MINORCAS. 

Minorcas are the best of all layers ; are precocious 
and hardy, and do not sit. They thrive well under all 
conditions. 



POLAND OR POLISH. 

Polands, or Polish fowls, would probably include 
Crevecceur, Houdans, and perhaps L,a Fleche, besides 
those described below. They comprise all varieties of 
tufted or crested fowls ; the comb is always of a two- 
horned character, although it is nearly invisible in the 
breeds especially known as Polish. 



WHITE-CRESTED BLACK POLISH. 

The most commonly known variety of Polish is the 
White-Crested Black. The cock carries himself boldly 
and gracefully, with his neck thrown back. Comb 
almost invisible ; wattles, bright red and full ; ear lobes, 



142 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

pure white ; body, plump aud short ; legs short, and 
black or lead-blue in color. Plumage, black, with bright 
reflections on tail, saddle and hackle. Crest, theoreti- 
cally, pure white, but hardly ever found without some 
black feathers ; in shape the crest is regular, large and 
full. The cock weighs five to six pounds. The hen's 
color is a rich black, her crest white and globular. She 
weighs four to five pounds, and is plump and compact. 
This breed is rather delicate. 



OTHER VARIETIES OF POLISH. 

The other varieties are Golden, Silver, White, Buflf- 
L,aced, Bearded Golden,. Bearded Silver and Bearded 
White. 

QUALITIES OF POLISH. 

Polish fowls are quite hardy, but are subject to 
colds, and must be carefully sheltered in wet weather. 
They lay well and are non-sitters. On the table they 
are excellent. 

PLYMOUTH ROCKS, BARRED WHITE AND BUFF. 

Plymouth Rocks are a popular American breed, 
which probably originated in a cross of Dominique and 
White Cochin. The comb is straight and single and the 
head is fine. The legs are without feathers, and bright 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 143 

yellow in color, which is also the color of the beak. The 
shape is an improvement on the Cochin, but much 
resembling it. The plumage is pure cuckoo gray, 
barred with dark bauds of almost black or blue gray, 
broad or narrow, according to the taste of the fancier. 
There is also a white variety, in which the plumage is 
pure white. The Buff variety is a clear buff, uniform 
in shade except the tail, which is deeper in color. 



QUALITIES OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 

Plymouth Rocks are good layers of small eggs ; are 
good table fowls ; good sitters and mothers ; hardy, 
thriving on any sort of soil, and bearing confinement 
well. They grow more rapidly and earlier than any 
other breed. 

REDCAPS. 

Redcaps are a large type of Hamburg, with a large 
rose comb. Cock weighs seven and one-half pounds and 
and hen six and one-half pounds. They are good table 
fowls and fair layers. 



SILKIES. 

Other breeds are Silkies, a fancy breed, the feathers 



144 PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 

of which hang loose like fibers of silk or wool. The 
skin is very dark. Rumpless fowls, have entire absence 
of tails. Black Sumatras are at the present time very 
seldom bred. Frizzles are a bird with feathers turned 
back towards the head. Two new breeds lately intro- 
duced are the Buckeyes and American Reds. American 
Reds are similar to Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds. 



SULTANS. 

Sultans are probably a variety of Polish fowls, but 
differ very much in appearance from the varieties above 
described. They are very small, the cock weighing only 
four to five pounds. The plumage and crest are white ; 
legs short, and feathered down to the toes ; thighs well 
furnished and vulture hocked ; tail full and flowing ; 
muff and whiskers around the throat. The crest is more 
erect than in the other varieties, and the comb is two 
small spikes in front of the crest. L,egs whitish, and fur- 
nished with a fifth toe. Sultans are favorite pets, and 
present a quaint and pleasing appearance. 



BLACK SPANISH. 

The only recognized breed of Spanish at the shows 
is the White-Faced Black Spanish, other varieties hav- 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 145 

ing no settled names. The leading point of the breed is 
the white face, the quantity and quality of which de- 
termine the rank of the bird. It should be wide, deep 
and high, should arch at the top, coming as near as may 
be to the bottom of the comb ; extend sideways to the 
ear lobes and wattles, and meet under the throat. It 
should also be fine and smooth. Bars white, large and 
pendulous ; comb very large, and colored bright ver- 
milion ; the cock's must be perfectly upright, the hen's 
falls to one side. The comb should be fine, although 
large, and the toothing should be very even. The cock 
has a very stately carriage, with protruding breast, and 
tail held up, but not forward. Plumage jet black, 
with glossy reflections ; sickle feathers, fully developed 
and perfect. The hen is equally black, but less glossy ; 
body heavy and plump ; legs long, and blue or dark 
lead color. _^ 

QUALITIES OF SPANISH. 

Spanish fowls are very delicate as chicks, and at 
all ages are susceptible to wet weather, especially when 
moulting. They lay well, but are poor table birds. 



WYANDOTTES. 

An American bird, of six varieties— Golden, Silver, 



146 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



White, Black, Buff and Partridge. They are large, 
rose-combed, yellow-legged (clean) ; plumage laced or 
striped, except in the white, which is white all over. 
The Wyandotte is a very handsome and hardy bird. 
They lay well, grow fast, and are a good table fowl — in 
fact, the ideal fowl for both fancier and farmer. 







INDEX. 



Page 

Age of fowl, judging .... 24 

' ' for breeding . . 97 

American Rose Comb . . .129 

Anconas 119 

Andalusians 119 

Anemia 76 

Animal food 22, 31 

Apoplexy 76 

Ashes, use of 15 

Asthenia 76 

Atrophy 76 

Aylesbury Ducks 105 

Bantams 120 

" Game . 120 

" Japanese -f2l 

" Cochin . \ 121 

" Sebright 121 

" Black and White .122 

" Brahma 122 

Barred Plymouth Rocks . . 142 

Beginner, advice to 9 

Black Bantams . 122 

Black Cochins 127 

Black Leghorns 139 

Black Minorcas 140 

Black Rot 77 

Black Spanish, description . 144 
Black Spanish, qualities . . 145 



Brahmas, for chick stock 
" as mothers . 
" description of 

light. . . . 
" dark . . 
' • for breeding 
' ' qualities of . 
Breeding for exhibition 
' ' interbreeding 
' ' marking 
Breeds, descriptions 
Broken Bones . . 
Bronchitis .... 
Brooders, artificial 
(cut) . . 
(cut) outdoor 
(home-made) 



descrip. home-made 53 



running of 
Brown Leghorns . . 
Bumble-foot .... 



Call Ducks 

Canker 

Capons and Caponizing 
Catarrh, or Cold . . . 

Cats 

Cayuga Ducks .... 
Chicken-house. (See House) 



Page 

25 

40 

122 

123 

124 

124 

125 

95 

97 



119 
77 
77 
50 
50 
5i 
52 



55 
138 

78 

106 

78 
72 
78 
86 
106 



148 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



Page 

Chicken Pox 79 

Chicks, stock for raising . . 25 
1 ' room required ... 25 
' ' hatching of. ... 45-47 
' ' rearing of ..... 56 
" feeding and food .56, 61 

" water 57, 62 

" Cold Mother," (cut) 63 

Cholera 79 

Cleanliness, in house .... 10 
" in runs . . . 11, 21 

" in brooder ... 55 

Cleansing of fowls 101 

Clipping wings 21 

Clover as food 34 

Cochins, description . . . .126 
when undesirable . 24 
as brood hens ... 25 
crossing for table fowl 25 

as mothers 40 

qualities of 128 

Cochin or Pekin Bantams . .121 

Cochins, Buff 127 

" Partridge 127 

" White and Black . .127 

Cock not always needed . . 23 

Cockerels, separation .... 33 

" caponizing .... 72 

resemblance ... 98 

"Cold Mother," description 

and cut 63 

Colds 80 

Constipation 80 

Consumption 81 

Corns 81 

Disinfectants 79 



Page 

Coops for little chicks ... 60 

" (cut) barrel coop ... 58 

" (cut) with open shed 59 

Cramp 77 

Crevecceur, cross with Cochin 5 2 
" description . . .128 

Crop bound 81 

Crossing, in general .... 96 
" of Cochins .... 25 

Crows 87 

Cuts- 
House 12 

Brooder house 14 

Roof chamber 17 

Nail-keg nests 19 

Shed with dust bath ... 20 
Box nest ......... 20 

House with double run . . 22 
Feeding trays ...... 30 

Water fountain 35 

Nest box . . . . 42 

Egg fertile and unfertile . 44 
Incubator, hot air .... 49 

Brooder 51 

" home-made ... 52 

Barrel coop 58 

Coop with open shed ... 39 

Coop for young chicks . . 60 

" Cold Mother" . ... 63 

Movable House 64 

Dark Brahmas 124 

Decoy ducks 106 

Diarrhea 82 

Diphtheria 83 

Diseases of poultry 72 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



149 



Page 

Dogs . 87 

Dominiques, as sitters ... 40 

11 description . .129 

Dorkings, cross with Cochin 25 

as sitters . . . 40 

" description of . .129 

qualities of . . 131 

" Colored 129 

" White 130 

" Silver Gray . . .130 

Draughts must be avoided . 10 
Dressing poultry for market . 71 

Dropsy 84 

" of feet 84 

Ducks 103 

" raising 104 

Dust bath (cut) 20 

' ' for sitting hen ... 41 
Dysentery 84 

Bast Indian Ducks 107 

Eczema 85 

Egg-bound 85 

Egg-eating 94 

Eggs, fresh and stale . . . 7, 39 
11 selecting stock . 23,38 
11 how to get in winter . 26 
' ' how production is hin- 
dered 32 

" shell-making material . 36 

" gathering 38, 67 

1 ' hatching 39 

11 setting 40 

" breaking in nest ... 41 

" sprinkling 42 

« testing ...... 43. 45 



Page 

Eggs, for market 64 

" perforated shelf (cut) . 66 
" box for shipping (cut) . 67 

Embden Geese in 

Enemies 86 

Exhibitions, breeding for . 95 

preparing for . ior 

rearing for . . . 100 

Exposure, best for house . . 9 

" shed .... 12 



7-8 



Farmer should keep poultry 
Fattening, when to avoid 
when desirable 
process of 
Feather-eating . . 
" pulling . . 
Feathers, clipping . 
" drying . . 

Feeding of adult fowls 
change of food 
trays (cut) . 
improper . . 
of pullets . . 
of sitting hen 
of chicks . . 

Fencing 

Floor, material and construc- 
tion 14, 15, 20 

Food, varieties 29 

" soft 28 

grain 28, 30 

meal, bran, middlings . 29 

animal 22, 31 

vegetable 29, 31 

milk and curd .... 34 



57, 



Food, 



150 



PRATTS POULTE.Y POINTERS 



Page 
Food, clover 34 

' ' for sitting hen .... 44 

" for little chicks ... 61 

' ' for turkeys .....113 

Frost bites 87 

Game fowls, description . . 131 

as sitters ... 40 

qualities of . . 133 

Game, Black-Breasted Red . 132 

" Brown Red 133 

" Duck- Wing 132 

" Oriental 133 

11 Pyle 132 

Gapes 88 

Gastritis 89 

Geese 109 

Grain, when to feed .... 28 
11 varieties as feed ... 30 

Gravel, use of 15 

Gray or Colored Dorkings . 129 
Gray or Toulouse Geese . .110 
Green food. Essential to 

Health 60, 62 

Guinea fowls 115 

Hamburghs, as layers . . 25, 65 
description . . 134 
qualities of . . 135 
Silver Penciled 134 
Gold Penciled . 134 
Gold and Silver 

Spangled . . 135 

White and Black 135 

Hampers for Shipping . . . 102 

Harem 99 

Hatchers. See Incubators . 48 



Page 
Hatching, selection of eggs . 39 
period of incubation 45 
treatment of chicks 46 
assisting to hatch . 46 

artificial 47 

for exhibition ... 99 

Hawks 3- 

Heating of house ^ 

Houdans as layers . . . . 25, 65 

11 cross with Cochin . 25 

as table fowls ... 26 

" description .... 136 

" qualities 235 

House, location g IO 

" material IO _ I2 

" ventilation . 10, 16, 17 
" with double run .11,22 
" construction .... j 2 

11 size n. 

" foundation I3 

" roof j, 

" (cut of) with run . . 14 

floor 14,15 

heating l6 

V movable I5 

" movable (cut) ... 64 

Incubation, period of ... 45 

Incubators, general remarks . 47 

description ... 48 

hot air (cut) • . 49 

running of ... 54 

Indigestion 89 

Inflammation of Egg Passage 89 

Interbreeding g- 

Insects as food for fowls . . 22 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



151 



Javas 



Page 
.136 



Killing poultry for market . 70 

La Fleche, description . . .136 

qualities .... 137 

Langshans for chick stock . 25 

" as sitters .... 40 

" as layers .... 65 

" description of . . 137 

" qualities of . . 137 

Laying, where fowls stop . . 24 

" pullets for ..... 32 

" best breeds . . .25,65 

Leghorns, as layers . . . 24, 65 

11 Black 139 

" qualities .... 139 

Leg Weakness 90 

Lice . . 18, 86 

11 remedy for 58 

Light Brahmas 123 

Lime and grit 36 

Liver, Congestion of 80 

Location of house - 9 

Malays, description .... 139 

" qualities 140 

Manure, care and use of . . 37 

Marking 98 

Mice 86 

Minorcas, as layers . ... 24, 65 
11 description . . . 140 

" qualities 141 

Muscovy Ducks 107 

Nests 19 



Page 

Nests, (cut) keg 19 

" care of 37 

" fouling of 41 

" for setting 41 

" box (cut) 42 

Number of fowls in house . 10 

" of hens to cock . 39, 67 

Orpingtons, Buff 125 

Pasting up 90 

Pea-fowl 117 

Pekin or Cochin bantams . .121 

Pekin ducks 108 

Perches. See Roosts 

Peritonitis 91 

Pigeons 116 

Pip 91 

Plucking of poultry .... 71 
Plumage, marking of .... 98 
Plymouth Rocks, for Chick 

stock 23 

Plymouth Rocks, as sitters . 40 

11 '*■ as layers . 65 

" " description 142 

11 qualities . 143 

Pneumonia . . . . 91 

Points. See Part II 102 

Potatoes in feeding 29 

Poland or Polish fowls, de- 
scription . . . 141 
11 qualities .... 142 

White-c rested 
Black .... 141 
Poultry, reasons for keeping. ^ 
' ' for the market . 64, 67 



152 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



Page 

Poultry, fattening 68 

" killing 70 

" dressing 71 

" diseases 72 

Pratts Poultry Food— 

Where marketed 5 

Use in soft food 28 

Use for pullets 33 

Use for young chicks 56, 58, 61 
As an egg producer ... 65 
As a flesh producer .... 69 

For all diseases 73 

Used before exhibitions . 10 1 

For turkeys 113 

Pratts Lice Killer . . . . 41, 86 

Pullets, development .... 32 

" for breeding . . • - 67 

" resemblance .... 98 

Pyle game 133 

Rats, keeping out . . . . 15, 86 

Rearing of chicks .... 56 

" for exhibition . . . 100 

Red Caps 143 

Rheumatism 92 

Roof 13 

Roof chamber 17 

Roosts, size of 10 

1 ' construction and care . 18 

Rouen ducks 108 

Roup 92 

Run, double (cut, 22) ... 11 

" fouling 11 

" description 21 

Scaly Leg 93 



Page 
Sebright Bantams .... 121 
Selection for exhibition . . 96 
Setting, choice of breeds • . 40 

" when and how to set 

eggs 43 

" first test of eggs . . 43 

" water test 45 

Sex, predicting 39 

Shanghais. See Cochins . .126 

Scratching Shed 19 

Shed, use and construction 11, 20 

" (cut) with dust bath . 20 

" for sitting hen .... 40 

Shipping of eggs 66 

" of fowls 102 

Show Birds 101 

Show Cochins 126 

Silkies, description 143 

Silver-gray Dorkings . . . .130 
Silver-spangled Hamburghs . 135 
Sitting hen, care of ... . 40 
Skeleton of chicken .... 26 
Soft food, when to feed ... 28 
' ' how to make ... 28 
Space required for poultry . 8 

" for raising chicks . . 25 
Spanish (Black) description . 144 
" " qualities . . 145 

Spanish (Red-faced). See 

Minorcas. 
Spring birds, when essential . 26 
Stock, selecting 23 

4 • for breeding .... 96 

Sultans 144 

Swans in 

Testing eggs 43, 45 



PRATTS POULTRY POINTERS 



153 



Page 

Thieves 87 

Toulouse geese no 

Trees and bushes in run . . 22 
Trussing and shaping poultry 71 

Turkeys, raising 112 

" varieties 114 

Vegetable food 29, 31 

Ventilation io, 16, 17 

Vertigo 95 

Vices 94 



Water, for drinking . 


... 35 


44 fountain (cut) . 


... 35 


• 4 care of pans . 


... 35 


44 for chicks . . 


. .57,62 



Page 

Water fowls 103 

Weasels, Minks, etc 87 

White Bantams 122 

White Call ducks 106 

White Cochins 127 

White Iveghorns 138 

White Minorcas 140 

White or Embden Geese . in 
White Plymouth Rocks . . . 143 

Wings, clipping 21 

Worms, Round 93 

Worms, Tape 93 

Wyandottes, description and 

varieties , . 145 

Yard. See Runs. 



prattj^£^ 



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Pratts Liquid Lice Killer 

Pratts Powdered Lice Killer 

Pratts Improved Dog Biscuits 

Pratts Veterinary Liniment 

Pratts Peerless Hoof Ointment 

Pratts Hog Cholera Cure 

Pratts Purely Vegetable Condition Powder 

Pratts Prepared Fever Powder 

Pratts Veterinary Colic Cure 

Pratts Veterinary Healing Ointment 

Pratts Specially Prepared Worm Powder 

Pratts I-ieave, Cough and Cold Cure 

Pratts Harness Soap 

Pratts Cow Tonic 

Pratts Calf Tonic 

Pratts Distemper and Pink Eye Cure 

Pratts Roup Cure 

Your Dealer can supply you with any of the above articles 



32 1905 



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